The  Price  of  Democracy:  How  

Much  Did  the  Bell  Schedule  

Cost?
Madeline  Drace

Everyone knows that M-A students did not have a say in the bell schedule change, but few realize the mini-
mized role of teachers in the matter, despite their paid attendance to the meetings to discuss it. In addition to
their lack of actual importance, these meetings also put an unnecessary toll on the school budget.

Taking into account the approximately $47.77 hourly wage of the average teacher at M-A, all meetings con-
cerning the bell schedule cost the school a total of $79.62 per teacher. Since M-A has 105 teachers, the school
has put forth $8,360 towards teachers’ bell schedule meetings.

As the cost of the meetings is a trivial sum compared to M-A’s overall budget, it is questionable whether the
money was spent successfully. The money put towards bell schedule meetings seems to represent an attempt
by the administration to make the teachers feel included. However, these efforts still left many teachers feeling
left out of the decision-making process.

The average teacher at M-A, excluding department chairs and administrators, spent about one hour and forty
minutes in conferences regarding the bell schedule. Each department has monthly meetings, lasting about
an hour and a half to two hours each, where some portion of time was devoted to discussion about the bell
schedule during the decision-making process. There was also a special, school-wide meeting held, solely con-
cerning the bell schedule, which lasted about forty-five minutes.

However, teachers had little say in the schedule change. “It wasn’t about what we wanted; it was a change
mandated by the board,” said math teacher Kristen Trent. Trent had taught seventh period before the schedule
change. She has a zero period this year, so it hasn’t posed a drastic change to her teaching schedule.

As for her personal opinion of the bell schedule, Trent said, “I would have preferred no change… But I’m okay
with it.”

Janet Elliot, another math teacher, was on the planning committee when M-A adopted its current modified
block schedule, in 1997. Elliot said that meetings for that schedule change “took about two years.” In compari-
son, discussion for this year’s schedule change moved “a lot more quickly.”

Chair of the Social Studies department and history teacher Christina Galliano pities the students on sports
teams whose practice schedules remain the same, despite the school day ending later.

“They miss a lot of class. Especially on block days, when there’s work that can’t be made up.”