After the 2025-2026 school year, the Wildcats underwent a significant change to the bell schedule at Ukiah High School.
As we wrapped up the first semester, Wildcats have had time to adjust to the changes. While some students appreciate the shift and its benefits, others have expressed mixed feelings about the new schedule. As we gather insights from our peers through interviews and an anonymous survey, it’s clear that this change has sparked a variety of opinions within our school community.
One of the new features is U-Time, a dedicated space for Wildcats to focus on their academics and catch up on assignments. Students can also use this time to visit their teachers for extra assistance or to make up tests and quizzes.
Another change involves Monday, which is now a school day where Wildcats experience a rapid schedule, attending all seven periods without U-Time. The design of this structure is intended to offer students an overview of all their classes; however, many Wildcats are feeling conflicted about this change. Some noted that they find it difficult to complete their classwork due to the rapid pace. Those in AP classes, in particular, find this day extremely challenging as they struggle to keep up with their heavy workload.
Junior Kira Douthit shared her experience losing previous tutorial periods: “I was able to get a lot more help in the past two years before this [change] because I utilized my tutorial period and received personal math tutoring for about 90 minutes multiple times a week.”
She continued, “Now with U-Time, I feel like I’m being a bit shortchanged in terms of the help I can receive. With the classes I have and the challenging assignments, I usually only get one assignment done during U-Time.” She also expressed that she had more access to one-on-one time with teachers in the previous design.
One student, when asked, “How do you feel about the recent bell schedule change?” said that they did not like the schedule change because, like Kira, they do not feel like they have enough time to get work done. The student shared, ”On Mondays, you can never accomplish anything, especially in AP classes.” They also said that even when utilizing U-Time, “I feel like I do not have enough time, and when I don’t have anything to do, it feels pointless.”
We also spoke with Adam Lane, a Chemistry teacher at Ukiah High. When discussing the addition of U-Time, Lane shared: “I think not every teacher or student is utilizing it as effectively as they could.” He offered a positive perspective, saying, “It’s been great to give students an opportunity during school to reassess their work, so they don’t have to rely solely on after-school tutoring. Providing time during the day for students to seek help is really beneficial.”
The UHS News Team interviewed Ukiah High’s principal, Dr. Analese Alvarez, about her views on campus culture with this new bell schedule.
Alvarez addresses the positive impact of the new schedule on attendance rates: “The first thing we see as an impact of the schedule is that our attendance rate is improving a lot, like our chronic absenteeism rate. At the end of the first semester last year, 30% of our students were chronically absent from school, which means they missed more than 10 days.”
Alvarez shares this year’s improved absenteeism stats: “This year we’re at 15%. We cut that [previous number] in half.” She expressed that this allows the school to “really narrow down and look at students who are struggling and provide services to them because they’re coming to school, whereas [before] they just weren’t.”
Alvarez highlights the main purpose of U-Time, stating that, “It is not our intention through any academic intervention to provide time for students to do homework. It’s to provide intervention to support where you may need extra help.”
She ended with her perception of how the schedule has affected the UHS campus culture. “Overall, for me, I don’t know a better way to say this, but campus just feels better this year.”
Another change is the late start on Wednesdays and Fridays. Wildcats begin their second-period class at 9:30 AM, which is an hour later than other days. While some people believe this is a significant benefit, others disagree.
In the survey, we asked students to identify anything about the schedule they would like to change. One Wildcat reported feeling conflicted about the end and start times of school and class: “Classes ending at different times every day makes the schedule unnecessarily confusing. It’s hard to remember when anything starts or ends.”
When asked, “How do you feel about the new bell schedule?” another student expressed frustration. “I understand that not everyone used the tutorial period academically, but that shouldn’t take away from the students who did. The solution shouldn’t be removing support for the students who rely on it—it should be encouraging better use of that time.”
As of now, students are still going through bumps and hardships in the learning curve of the new schedule. Dr. Alvarez shared with journalism students that the district will require us to keep the current schedule for a minimum of three years before implementing any additional changes.
There may be mixed feelings about the schedule thus far, but by the end of the year, students may grow to appreciate it more than they do now. What do you think?
Briana Goodson is a Junior and a journalist at Ukiah High School. In her free time, Briana enjoys reading books and writing. She also enjoys cheerleading and has done it for many years. She joined the journalism class because she wants to write about things that will keep her peers updated.
She was born in Ukiah California which makes writing things about her community hit close to home. Briana thinks of herself as hardworking but still knows how to show her goofy side. Not only is this Briana’s third year writing for the journalism team at Ukiah High she looks forward to writing for journalism in her Senior year for her last year.
Savannah Kram
Savannah Kram is a junior at Ukiah High School and in her second year of Journalism. She is involved in the Drama department, in her third year. She is a pretty involved student, now taking on Speech and Debate this school year. She joined the journalism class for new experiences, to write about local and current events, and to bring awareness to subjects that have yet to be shown under the spotlight. She was born in Ukiah, California raised in a different state, being back here made her more inspired to become more involved within the Ukiah community. She is ecstatic to continue her journey at Ukiah High News this school year and hopefully continue in journalism in the future.