On September 1, 2026, an email was sent out to VUSD students announcing that a new schedule would begin in the 2027-2028 school year.
By: Andrea Oyervidez
The new schedule is eight periods instead of the traditional six periods, all students from Redwood, El Diamante, Golden West, and Mt Whitney are all starting the new schedule.
Redwood has been a school for 72 years, always having the same traditional six-period schedule. But next year, things are going to change.
With a new schedule, it comes with lots of unknowns and questions.
One major question is, why the new schedule?
Dr. Gridiorn says, “Our traditional six-period schedule kind of limits students from taking certain classes because of the multitude of classes we have.”
Redwood has over 30 electives with many different kinds of classes to choose from, from Arts, World Languages, Agriculture, and many, many more.
It’s hard to do it all. But the district hopes the new schedule can allow students to have the most opportunities to have the classes they want.
Students all have mixed feelings about the new schedule. Some are excited for the change; others are against it.
Abrianna Villasenor ’30 says, “I was a bit stunned, but I’m kind of excited because we get to have experience with more electives.”
Abigail Zapata ’29 agrees, “I honestly really like the block schedule personally, because I am really bad about meeting deadlines and all that stuff. So I feel like having multiple days in between to be able to complete all of my work, I feel like it would be really beneficial for me.”
Other students are against it. Payge Short ’30 says, “I was really mad because classes are gonna be way longer and it’s already really hard for me to focus and having to do basically two hours of classes every single day is just so difficult and annoying and irritating.”
Students like Makayla Cardoza ’29 are conflicted. Makayla says, “I wasn’t happy because I didn’t want extra periods of homework, but then the more I think of it, it gives you more time for homework.”
However, the schedule doesn’t just affect students; teachers are also affected.
Mrs. Fariss is one of those teachers. Mrs. Fariss is an English 1 teacher; she has been teaching for more than 10 years here at Redwood.
Mrs.Fariss says, “I feel like it might ease a little stress, because you’re not going to every class every day, and it might ease the homework load. You only have to prepare for half of your classes.”
She also says, “I think that might be nice. Again, I just like the variety of the week. I’ve been doing this schedule since I’ve been at Redwood for the last 14 years, and I’m ready to try something new.”
Mrs.Braun is a PE teacher on campus. With longer periods, the question is, how does it affect PE especially?
Mrs.Braun says, “I think for PE, it will actually be successful. I can’t speak for the other subjects, but for PE we’ll be able to break it down because we want to get a good cardio, but at the same time we want to get into a sport.”
She goes on to express one of her major concerns with the new schedule.
Mrs.Braun says, “The other thing I’m a little nervous about is, let’s say someone’s absent. Well then now I have a student who hasn’t had any physical activity, potentially for three days.”
With a new schedule, it can come with many new problems that we’ve never had before.
Some students share their concerns. Abigail Zapata ’29 says, “With having so much time in between certain classes, I feel like it’s really easy to forget stuff.”
Cardzoza 29′ says, “I don’t know if the rumors are true, but I don’t know if we can do summer school because of the eight-period thing, so I don’t know if I feel that great about it.”
Short ’30 says, “Like, it’s just like a waste of time. And I feel like having classes every single day, like we’ve had, is keeping us consistent.”
Mrs.Fariss also shares her concerns; she said, “I also think it might pose a little problem for absences, because if you miss a class, you essentially won’t see that teacher now for another couple of days. Yeah, so, I see that being maybe an issue; we’ll have to work out.”
This new schedule will come with lots of unknowns.
However, Dr. Gridiron wants students to know that they can always ask questions.
Dr.Gridiron says, “We want to be transparent about the process. So I always tell kids, if you guys have questions, don’t hesitate to come in and ask. If I know the answer, I’ll answer it. If I don’t know the answer, then I’ll go find the answer because I want to make sure that people are informed and aware of what’s going on.”
Andrea Oyervidez
Andrea Oyervidez '30 is a student life reporter and this is her first year in journalism. She loves to talk to people and loves to create stories.
Tags: clubs & lifestyles, New Bell Schedule, rangers, redwood gigantea, redwood high school, Redwood New schedule, visalia ca, Visalia Eight Periods
