Marilee Beauregard
Zophia Quinoa-Collins, a Sophomore, looks at the new bell schedule, confused.
Along with first-day jitters, new and old Bulldogs were welcomed to Palisade High School with new classes, new faces and… even a new schedule? Starting the 2025-2026 school year, the Mesa County Valley School District has decided to create a districtwide Friday release at 1:15. Additionally, Palisade High School changed their bell schedule. Now, Mondays’ schedule and early dismissals are replaced with a Tuesday schedule and regular release. The original schedules for Wednesdays to Fridays have now been pushed back to Tuesdays to Thursdays. This leaves room for our early release on Friday, with alternating even and odd blocks.
In the midst of confusion and frustration, there are a few things that the Bulldogs should know about the new schedule that might relieve any stress. Buses will leave at early release as well, since this a districtwide change. Students who take the bus will no longer have to waste their early release time waiting for the bus.
Additionally, students may not know that the Palisade bell schedule was decided by all staff members, and not just a select few of the head administration team. “The staff looked at them (different options) and did kind of pros and cons of each bell schedule,” remarked assistant principal Mrs. Caster. “We made notes about that from each of the teams that were looking at them…then the staff voted.”
The new schedule may be irritating to returning students who have been used to the previous schedule. However, students could be happy about the early release and shifted block periods. Dylan McNally is a senior Bulldog and member of the Palisade High School Student Council, who shared her opinion on the new schedule. “For the most part, it really doesn’t affect the StuCo structure, except for the Fridays we don’t have this class,” stated McNally. “Our block days are really important to us… so when we don’t have a block day it really impacts how much we have to do in the later days.” McNally, still on the topic of the new Friday schedule, expressed excitement about the early release. “I personally love it, because I feel like my day goes by super-duper fast… I think it’s working out pretty good. I think that the 1:15 (release time) is nice.”
One more note to our Paw Post readers: Because of the new schedule, we have switched our publishing day from Friday to Tuesday. If you’re waiting for our newest Staff Writers to start on our page, or see what our editors have in store for this year, make sure to check palisadepawpost.com on Tuesdays after school for some sick new content!