Students tell Bozeman School Board block schedule is settling in as homecoming plans ramp up

At the Bozeman School District Board meeting on Sept. 9, student representatives reported a busy, positive start to the school year and said the district's new block schedule is settling in.

Baumgartner, the student representative from Gallatin High School, told trustees the transition has gone smoothly. “Very few complaints relative to what we kind of expected … it's been a pretty smooth transition,” he said, noting longer class periods help with labs and sustained project work. Another student representative said the block schedule had “streamlined, like, science classes,” allowing extended lab time in AP chemistry.

From Bozeman High School, student-body president Truman Dickerson and vice president Griffin Fustall described freshman orientation events, efforts to broaden student-council participation through smaller committees, and homecoming scheduled for Sept. 21. Dickerson said the council is focused on building school culture through spirit days, an assembly and a Saturday dance; Fustall added that the student section requested and received modest funding for game-day materials.

Trustees asked students about specific effects of the block schedule. Students said the schedule provides longer uninterrupted time for projects and for meeting with teachers, and that interventions are being rolled out through homeroom teachers. Trustees thanked the students for reporting and welcomed continued engagement.

The board heard the reports during its student-representative agenda item; no formal action was required or taken on scheduling at this meeting.