Breakfast bar, shorter days, new admins: What's changing upon NBHS' return from break?

NEW BEDFORD — When New Bedford High School returns from Christmas break on Jan. 2, there are a few tweaks that will have taken place that make the school day experience a little different.

One change will be the addition of a "breakfast bar" near the school's main entrance from which students will be able to grab nutritious bite to eat before school officially starts. According to incoming NBHS Principal Joyce Cardoza, this should be a great help for students for whom accessing breakfast amid hurried mornings has been a logistical challenge.

"They [students] really felt like if there was some type of breakfast station in a different part of the building, students who enter from that side could easily get breakfast, still get to their homeroom on time, potentially do some things pre-homeroom if they needed to, and the flow would be easier for them," said Cardoza.

Cardoza, the now-former NBHS associate principal set to take over as principal on Jan. 2, says the idea stems from the Student Council's pitch to administrators, who were happy to engage with the students and facilitate talks between them and food and nutritional services staff.

Filling in for Cardoza in the associate principal position will be now-former Class of 2025 Assistant Principal Jeffrey Longo.

"As Jeff and I are moving into our new positions, one of our goals is to really elevate student voice and ensure that students feel seen, heard, and that their voice is having an impact in whatever changes or enhancements come to our school," Cardoza said.

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Extra focus put on lunch

But students' current collaborations with the school on food don't stop with breakfast. According to NBHS junior and Student Council member Elliot Talley, students have been working with NBHS Food and Nutrition Services Director Robert Shaheen to "improve the quality and quantity of lunches" at the school.

"So many students have complained about the taste of lunches, or the variety of lunches," Talley told The Standard-Times, noting that most of the "good lunches" students prefer have been known to run out by third lunch shift. "They also feel the portion sizes aren't big enough considering we have lots of athletes and people who won't be eating much after that meal."

Since the Student Council members began their open dialogue with food and nutrition services, Talley says "Things are getting better."

"The nutrition department has been doing a great job of listening to the students and making changes," Talley said, noting staff have been tracking which lunches are most popular to inform food orders. "That data has been used to bring more 'good' lunches to the third lunch shift although there's still work to do."

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Talley also noted cafeteria staff have been making sure students are aware they can always ask for extra fruits and vegetables with their meal.

After-school snack efforts in progress

According to Talley, the NBHS Student Council has also engaged with school administration and the food and nutrition department on new efforts to bring snacks to students participating in after-school activities. Talley said it's an idea that had not yet come to fruition as of students' last day before Christmas break on Thursday, but he was hopeful those talks would resume upon returning to school.

NBHS school day shrinking by 28 minutes

Another change students can expect upon their return on Jan. 2 will be just under a half-hour less of school each day, with student dismissal moving from 2:40 p.m. to 2:12 p.m. According to Cardoza, the decision came out of a broad-level re-evaluation of how things at NBHS worked.

"We were working under the same memorandum of agreement and I think we really needed to think through it more. Was it necessarily equaling the results that we needed?," Cardoza said.

From there, Cardoza said, it was determined that with a reduced school day, "we’d have more time for teachers to plan thoughtfully, co-plan, engage in guided planning, which will yield better student outcomes."

The end of teachers' workday will remain at 3 p.m. as it has been, Cardoza said.

Does this change the schedule?

While 28 minutes less is a considerable change, Cardoza says the reduction is achieved in a way that keeps the school day at seven periods.

"We shifted the passing period by one minute, the instructional periods by four, and the advisory period by two minutes," she said. "I think it will be a slight shift but not as noticeable as thinking about it in a large chunk of time."

Students get extra study period

Aside from any boosts that come from enhancing teachers' planning process, Cardoza says the benefit of a shorter school day should be especially felt by students involved with after-school activities, who will now get a chance to study and/or complete some work in a structured setting while waiting for a club or practice to start.

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"We have a lot of students who are in Advanced Placement courses, clubs, bands, activities; Some of our students are here till 9 at night," Cardoza said. "So this allows us to embed an extracurricular study for students from 2:12 p.m. to 3 p.m.

"It's good because they won't have to leave, it's monitored by our staff, and they have the benefit of being in the building."

This article originally appeared on Standard-Times: What's changing at New Bedford High after Christmas break?