Starting in the fall of 2025, the ring of the final bell will echo 15 minutes earlier for most high school students in the Team Duval district, thanks to new schedule adjustments designed to fit in with a shift to a 3x3 block schedule, according to an announcement by the district. The daily grind for these students will now include three 100-minute classes on an every-other-day basis, complemented by one 50-minute "skinny" course that they'll attend daily, a structure thought to enhance academic engagement without extending the school day.
Four high schools, however, will cling to their current time structure; Douglas Anderson School of the Arts, Stanton College Preparatory, Paxon School for Advanced Studies, and Samuel Wolfson School for Advanced Studies have been named as the exceptions and they will continue with their existing 4x4 block schedules. Students at these institutions will navigate the familiar rhythm of their school days unchanged, even as their peers in other high schools adapt to the new timetable.
In a February announcement that Duval County Public Schools shared, Superintendent Dr. Christopher Bernier pointed to cost savings projected at $8 to $10 million as a key driver for the overhaul, asserting that the district is not just scrapping minutes off the school day, but strategically reinventing schedules with fiscal prudence in mind. It was stated that this multi-tiered development of the new schedules included feedback gathering and collaboration with Duval Teachers United for collective bargaining purposes.
While the trimmed dismissal time stands out as a headline, Duval district officials have signaled that this adjustment is merely one piece of a larger puzzle around secondary education scheduling which will also include discussions on school start times; these conversations are on the docket for tomorrow's School Board meeting, where school leaders will grapple with the intricacies of efficiently running a school system that caters to the needs of myriad stakeholders, teachers, and over 128,000 students across the district.
