URBANA — Director Steve Epperson has elected to preserve Uni's current 8 a.m. to 3:50 p.m. schedule for the entire 2009-10 school year.

Epperson weighed the merits of shortening each of Uni's eight class periods to 45 minutes, as well as extending the lunch break to the same length. These changes would have ended regular school days at 3:20 p.m. Currently, class periods are 50 minutes long and lunch is 35 minutes.

"I just think there are still a few things that need to be worked out before we can implement it," Epperson said today after he sent a schoolwide e-mail informing the Uni community of his decision.

"I'm just a little reluctant to push those problems and issues onto my successor [Jeffrey Walkington, who will take over in July]."

Keeping the status quo

In his e-mail, Epperson offered the following reasons for not changing the schedule:

• "Shortening the periods to 45 minutes would require students to take seven classes (or some other creative arrangement) to meet the 300-minute rule. There are around 50 students who are currently enrolled in fewer than seven classes for next year. Requiring these students to add another class (even if it were a study hall) might have some unpredictable effects on the current schedule."

• "Requiring students to add a seventh class at this time would make it impossible for them to get into some classes that are now filled up."

• "I am somewhat concerned that if we had clearly mentioned to students and parents that students would be required to take seven classes, the survey responses might have been different."

• "I feel more time is needed to plan activities and set guidelines for the extended lunch period."

• "I am reluctant to make this decision and then force my successor to deal with any problems associated with the change."

• "After many years of making significant decisions such as this, I just have a 'gut' feeling that it would be better to firm up our plans more before making the change."

Despite his decision to forgo an immediate change, Epperson said he hopes the deliberations regarding Uni's daily schedule will continue next year after Walkington becomes director.

"He and I have talked about this already, and I know he's interested in continuing the discussions," Epperson said. "I think he agrees with me, and most other people, that the school day here at Uni is a little too long — and adjustments eventually need to be made."

The proposal for changing the schedule came after a faculty committee co-chaired by chemistry teacher David Bergandine and college counselor Lisa Micele studied ways to improve the school day.

"I would guess that Dr. Walkington will probably put together some type of a committee next year to continue to look at the proposed schedule, as well as ... more creative schedules than just simply shortening each class five minutes," Epperson added.

"I don't think we're ever going to find a perfect schedule, but hopefully we can find something that will address the length of the school day as well as not do anything to hurt the educational program here."

A temporary letdown, but with hope for the future

In late April, students, faculty, and parents had the opportunity to take an online survey about the proposed changes. According to Epperson, most survey respondents supported implementing the shorter schedule this fall.

Supporters of the change, such as English teacher Steve Rayburn, expressed disappointment over Epperson's choice but praised the initiative to continue discussions.

"I think that the decision was made for very solid reasons," English teacher Steve Rayburn said. "While I might be disappointed that we are not instigating something immediately, I think that maybe we have the ball rolling — so we'll see what happens."

In fact, Rayburn added: "I don't know that the 45-minute schedule is the exact answer. Maybe in the future we'll take a little more time and look more in depth, get the input of our new director ... and see if there might be something that would work better."

Unchanged, contrasting student opinions

Junior Ben Lee was among the students relieved to hear of Epperson's decision.

"This is the best thing to happen all year," Lee said exultantly.

In particular, Lee noted that the shorter schedule would restrict students to just one free period, in order to comply with the state's required minimum instructional time (300 minutes). Currently, students can take up to two free periods — a nice privilege, Lee said.

But while Lee and others celebrated the current schedule's preservation, student proponents of a change shared Rayburn's disappointment.

"I was looking forward to it — a half hour more to have time on my own," sophomore Fiona Weingartner said.

Shorter Schedule at a Glance

The Proposal

• 1st period — 8 to 8:45 a.m.
• 2nd period — 8:50 to 9:35 a.m.
• 3rd period — 9:40 to 10:25 a.m.
• 4th period — 10:30 to 11:15 a.m.
• Lunchtime — 11:15 a.m. to noon
• 5th period — 12:05 to 12:50 p.m.
• 6th period — 12:55 to 1:40 p.m.
• 7th period — 1:45 to 2:30 p.m.
• 8th period — 2:35 to 3:20 p.m.

The Current Schedule (which will remain for 2009-10)

• 1st period — 8 to 8:50 a.m.
• 2nd period — 8:55 to 9:45 a.m.
• 3rd period — 9:50 to 10:40 a.m.
• 4th period — 10:45 to 11:35 a.m.
• Lunchtime — 11:35 a.m. to 12:10 p.m.
• 5th period — 12:15 to 1:05 p.m.
• 6th period — 1:10 to 2 p.m.
• 7th period — 2:05 to 2:55 p.m.
• 8th period — 3 to 3:50 p.m.