Our school has a pretty decent schedule. We have a week off in November, two weeks off in December, and another week off in February. The week-long vacation in February is new, and this will be the first year it takes place.

Even though it may seem a little odd to have a week off in February, I am happy to get a break from school. Our school decided to add this break because other schools were doing something similar. Since we already have a good schedule, I wanted to compare it to a few other schools.

First, I compared our schedule to Twelve Bridges Middle School. One big difference is that they do not have PAW. I have mixed feelings about PAW being held Tuesday through Friday. PAW is a great time to complete schoolwork, and it also helps bring our school community together.

However, there are times when I do not have any work to do during PAW. When that happens, I have to find something to do for 28 minutes, which can feel long when there is nothing productive to work on. Playing games is not an option, which makes it even more challenging.

Another difference I noticed is the length of class periods. At Twelve Bridges, first period on regular release days lasts 62 minutes, while ours is 52 minutes. Their second through fifth periods are 56 minutes long, compared to our 52-minute periods.

The next school I looked at was Spring View Middle School in Rocklin. Spring View has an interesting bell schedule. At the start of the day, they have something called Homeroom. Homeroom is similar to PAW, but it only lasts 15 minutes. Unlike our school, Spring View has eight periods instead of six.

I am also a little jealous that they get a short break after second period. On articulation days, the break is from 9:33 to 9:41, and from Tuesday through Friday, it is from 9:53 to 10:01. On their bell schedule, fifth period is listed as first lunch, and sixth period is listed as second lunch.

Spring View Middle School also has minimum days. Their minimum days are December 19, 2025, March 5, 2026, and June 4, 2026. I found it confusing that they only have three minimum days spread throughout the year. On those days, they have six periods instead of their usual eight.

Overall, I am happy with our school schedule. However, I do wish we had a break in the middle of the day that lasted about 20 minutes.