Earl Marriott Secondary is keeping fingers crossed that the new five block school day is going to work and reduce overcrowding in the school as students return for the fall term.

The South 性视界传媒 school and Cloverdale鈥檚 Lord Tweedsmuir Secondary are experimenting with versions of a five-block schedule to stagger student presence in a district that has seen no new school construction in half a decade.

鈥淲e鈥檙e distributing the population over five blocks instead of four,鈥� explained Marriott principal Peter Johnston last week, adding that the school day will begin with mainly Grade 8s and 9s for the first period at 8 a.m., with older grades being phased in starting with the second period at 9:25 a.m.

He noted Marriott 鈥� which is 鈥渟ignificantly larger鈥� in population than Tweedsmuir 鈥� is implementing the five-block system a little differently, taking the added step of setting up two lunch periods to avoid packing the cafeteria area.

Tweedsmuir principal Allan Buggie said the new schedule there has lined up well.

鈥淲ere not expecting any problems at all,鈥� he said. 鈥淭he co-operation has been tremendous from teachers, kids and parents.鈥�

But Johnston said that while everything is in place for the new system at Marriott, 鈥渢he proof of the pudding is in the eating.

鈥淲e don鈥檛 really know how it鈥檚 going to work until the students are in school,鈥� he said. 鈥淐heck back with me in a week鈥檚 time.

鈥淲e鈥檝e got all the blocks lined up, we鈥檝e freed up the space, the teachers are happy, we鈥檝e given the students all the classes they wanted 鈥� but we haven鈥檛 tried all the logistics of running it.鈥�

The ultimate answer is still new school construction, he agreed.

鈥淲e鈥檙e still advocating very hard for a new school in the South 性视界传媒 area, and the funding capital to reduce the stress on schools. For our parents committee, particularly, that鈥檚 a number-one priority.鈥�