On Sunday, August 11th, the day before the 2024-2025 school year started, students at The Village School received their new class schedules. Looking over their classes, they hoped for kind teachers and classes with friends. Unexpectedly, students wondered: What is the A building next to these numbers? Where is the M building? Walking to that first day of school, many high school students at The Village School were shocked to find out that they had multiple classes in the Elementary and Middle School buildings of the campus.
In an attempt to increase the diversity of the curriculum, The Village School has begun offering numerous new AP, IB, and elective classes. However, having more classes comes at a cost: there are not enough classrooms in the high school to accommodate every teacher and every student. To compensate, The Village School has decided to place environmental science and physics classes in the elementary School. Similarly, the premedical science and speech & debate classes are now located in the middle school. As a result, students have to walk farther to get to their classes, cutting their socializing or lunch time short, and making it more likely for them to be late to class. Numerous students complained about this expansion at first, but do these students still care a month into the school year?
To find out, I asked Mayti Jha, a sophomore taking Environmental Science and AP Physics 1, how she thinks this change affects the social and learning aspect of The Village School and whether she supports the change. “I don’t necessarily dislike it … I will say the walk time is quite a while.” Said Jha. Students must walk through the sky bridge from the middle school, taking up even more time. Jha has to walk from Environmental Science in the elementary school to the Village Athletic Center (VAC) for her Art class–possibly the two farthest high school classes from each other. Due to this, Mayti says she’s “always late to [this] class; I’ve never been on time.” While her teacher, Mr. Manning understands this, the passing period is also a time for students to take a break from learning and to do certain tasks like going to the bathroom or checking emails.
“I hate it. It’s my first period in the morning, and since I’m not early to school, I’m often late,” said senior, Haley Nguyen. While both Jha’s and Nguyen’s teachers understand this issue, some stricter teachers are more stringent with tardiness, and some students can’t catch a break.
On the upside, the expansion of the high school has allowed students to choose from a plethora of new classes. Subjects like AP Computer Science Principles, IB Global Politics, and AP Environmental Science are among the selection of new classes The Village School has started offering for the 2024-2025 school year. However, this doesn’t benefit every student. Many students still say they would not want more classes outside the high school as it’s irritating having to rush to class or they’ll be late or having to rush to lunch or they’ll be behind in the line.
This situation does not apply to every student, though. Having more diverse classes allows many students to branch out and find courses that they enjoy or find useful. The Village School has been expanding ever since they opened as a primary school in 1966, but now is it running out of space? Some students love the opportunity to pick new classes while others just want their Health Science or Physics class to stay where they are–in high school. What do you think about this topic? Are there any classes you wish The Village School could offer? If you’re a Village School student, try talking to a Student Government member; it is their job to think about topics like these so try reaching out! Your voice might just be heard.
