Dear ECCO Families,

We’re writing to share an important change for the 2025–26 school year: ECCO will be implementing a new bell schedule starting this fall. This decision comes after careful reflection, community input, and a commitment to creating a learning environment that better supports the needs of our students.

🛠 Why We’re Changing the Schedule

The current A/B block schedule, modeled after the comprehensive high schools, has presented significant challenges for our students:

• Many students struggle to stay engaged during 90-minute classes.
  
  

• Efforts to break up long periods have been difficult to manage and have led to too many students out of class at once.
  
  

• With 5 different rotating schedules, many students and staff are often unclear about the day’s schedule, leading to confusion and missed opportunities.
  
  

• Students who miss class—especially those impacted by housing instability, poverty, or mental health challenges—find it even harder to recover from absences in the current model.
  
  

• The current schedule limits our ability to offer timely academic and wellness interventions.
  
  

• ECCO’s unique identity and flexibility as an alternative program has been overshadowed by a system designed for larger, traditional schools.
  
  

🎯 What the New Schedule Will Achieve

Our new bell schedule is designed to:

• Provide a consistent and predictable daily routine, which is essential for building trust, especially in a trauma-informed school.
  
  

• Increase the frequency of student-teacher interaction, helping students retain information, build community, and stay connected even when they miss a day.
  
  

• Shorten class periods to better match student attention spans and reduce the need for breaks.
  
  

• Create time and space for interventions and enrichment.
  
  

• Clearly distinguish ECCO as a true alternative learning environment—not just a smaller version of a traditional school.
  
  

📅 What the Schedule Will Look Like

• Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday:
   7 class periods, each 50 minutes long.
   This format provides daily consistency and more regular contact with each teacher.
  
  

• Wednesday:
   A special schedule designed to focus on connection, support, and enrichment:
  
  

  • Homeroom (65 minutes): Mandatory, cohort-based class for goal-setting, wellbeing check-ins, and advisory activities.
    
    

  • Three additional 65-minute blocks for academic support, extended labs, interest-based learning, volunteer work, and targeted interventions.
    
    

We believe this new schedule will better serve ECCO’s students and mission. Our staff is excited to work together with students and families to make this transition smooth and successful.

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out. We will continue to share updates, sample schedules, and support resources over the coming weeks.

Thank you for your partnership and support.