Oak Park High School has been working to figure out an operable schedule for upcoming years — as have other schools following the passing of the law. After months of debate, it seems as though a conclusion has been reached; though it is not yet finalized, here is an overview of the probable OPHS schedule for the 2022-23 school year, and beyond.

As of now, OPHS is adding an additional 18-19 minutes to every block around 100 minutes, thus making each period longer. This means that instead of ending school at the usual time, 2:25 pm, school days will officially end at 3:29 pm. There will no longer be a seventh period support time at the end of the day, because it’s distributed amongst the new class periods. Both the eighth and zero period classes will still remain, just changing their starting and ending times.

Regarding seventh period support time, there have been some concerns in relation to how students will receive the extra help that they need. According to this new schedule, the extra minutes built into each class period will be used as that support time, as opposed to a scenario where the class is taught for a straight 118 minutes. This will allow students to have time to get help from their teachers after the lesson has been taught each day.

There is still some debate regarding how sports, as well as other after-school activities, are going to operate; typically, sports practices begin at 3:30, with a 20-minute break between the end of seventh period and the beginning of practice. With school now getting out at 3:30, revisions need to be made regarding those activities. Most likely, some sports will be scheduled during the 5th and sixth period blocks, and current eighth period classes will be adapted to run sometime after the school day ends.

Additional information about changes to the schedule can be found both on the OPUSD website and in the screening of their most recent board meeting, found here.