At a “Coffee with the Principal” on Oct. 25, Principal John Williams announced to teachers the concept of an altered senior schedule format based on a collegiate class plan. The proposed schedule, which Williams dubs the “Academic Academy,” aims to keep seniors, many of whom begin to lose interest in high school during their final year, engaged and challenged.

Over the course of one semester, instead of taking the standard seven courses per semester, seniors under the Academic Academy would deviate from the current block schedule by taking four advanced courses, such as AP and IB courses or research internships. On Fridays, students would attend a seminar about the “habits of mind,” skills that successful people have. The school would allot the remaining time to seniors to use as they choose, as colleges do.

According to Williams, teachers reacted positively toward the proposed senior schedule.

“If you know you’re going to Purdue or Northwestern, you start to not care anymore about what happens here in high school,” Williams said. “(The teachers) liked the idea of restructuring the day, the freedom and choices in classes and when the students take the classes.”

However, Williams said that “several things needed to happen” before the school can continue implementation of the Academic Academy. Namely, the administration would need to obtain Department of Education waivers, revise the language of old school contracts and possibly the designation of high-performing school. The process may also involve a trial period involving a limited number of seniors. In the best case scenario, Williams said the Academic Academy would be in place for seniors during the 2014-2015 school year.

If these events take place and the new scheduling format is approved, administrators hope seniors would be encouraged to take more rigorous courses and be more engaged during their final year here. Still, student body president Chris Johnson recommended that students remain skeptical of the proposed schedule until real results are achieved.

“It’s definitely worth checking out,” he said. “It’s difficult to judge its effectiveness ahead of time. However, I do think it will help seniors focus, as it eliminates many of the inapplicable or unnecessary work characteristic of senior year.”