Eleanor Roosevelt High School’s current schedule allocates a 30-minute window of time every Thursday and Friday called “Office Hours” that allows students to catch up on their homework, make up missing work, or relax. This setup, personally, helps act as a brain break for me. During the day, your only true break is during lunch, and it helps lessen the stress load of the day. However, Office Hours are only on Thursday and Friday. On the other two full days of the week, Monday and Tuesday, you have three gruesomely long periods with only one break all day.

ERHS’ block schedule format, in my opinion, takes a toll on the mind, and the way to combat this would be to add a 30-minute slot of time in between the first and second period of the day. This way, in between every couple of hours of the day, your brain has an opportunity to relax.

ERHS freshman Yilin Huang commented on the situation, “Office Hours increases productivity and gives students a chance to relax and catch up on any work they have to do.”

After a long day at school, Eleanor Roosevelt high schoolers leave campus and meet their friends. Photo taken by Aiden McConkey on September 3, 2025.

“I use Office Hours to prepare for my classes when I have important tests or quizzes to take, and expanding it would make me a more prepared student, “ERHS freshman Kyle Ho said when asked about the current Office Hours time slot in the schedule.

The block schedule at ERHS is admittedly a good format for school schedules, allowing for fewer classes per day, with typically more instructional time. Of course, no system is perfect, and I am not saying that the current schedule does not work the way it is intended to work. I am merely suggesting that a quick revision could make students happier, more energetic, and save them some time at home playing catch-up with the numerous projects and homework that classes assign.