During the week of October 13, students and teachers navigated a markedly different schedule than the typical Orange Week. Indigenous Peoples’ Day and Community Engagement Day/PSAT Day disrupted normal routines, causing shortened class times and necessitating numerous Google Calendar checks per day. However, Academic Dean Heather Sugrue, who handles much of the planning of special schedules, identified the changes as necessary for the “continuity of work in classes, as well as maintaining other key components of the week.”

Planning these schedule changes involves coordination across multiple levels of Milton’s administration. Sugrue balances lunch periods to manage overcrowding in Forbes and maintains communication with faculty and students by sending emails and updating Veracross. “It is all a big balancing act, and it is imperfect,” she said.

Sugrue also collaborates with Upper School Principal Rachel Stone, Athletic Director Lamar Reddicks, and Assistant Athletic Director Molly Purcell—among others—to coordinate across offices. They make most of these decisions for the academic year over the preceding summer.

Individual department chairs and deans also play a role by helping their faculty adapt. Classics Department Chair Jeanna Cook, for example, “[does her] best to see the cross-over conflicts in advance and help the team arrange for coverage.” However, she still sometimes finds herself and her department “surprised by the impact of a special schedule.”

Cook specifically highlighted the difficulties of conflicting Upper and Middle School schedules. “It's often challenging to teach in two divisions when we use a special schedule. When the Middle and Upper School schedules do not align or overlap in an unusual way, we ‘cross-over teachers’ are often needed for two classes in the same space at the same time,” she stated. “We cover for each other, but it can be challenging.”

Latin teacher Alex Mina also expressed “mixed feelings about special schedules.” She appreciates the opportunity to make up class time, but finds that the special schedules can result in less productive classes. Math teacher Stacy Christensen identified another challenge: keeping sections of the same course on pace with each other when one section loses a day when others do not.

Nevertheless, Christensen acknowledged that the special schedules “allow for important events like Community Engagement Day and the PSAT.” She adds that teachers are provided with advance notice of any schedule changes, although she finds that students can sometimes have trouble keeping track of the shifting schedules. Lyra Dvorin ‘28 agreed, acknowledging that the changes could be confusing.

For History teacher Matthew Blanton, the people and purpose behind the change was what mattered. “I think all alterations to our schedules—minor or major—derive from a well-intentioned place… It's a noble impetus, then, to try and recover lost class time and to be mindful that no one specific block gets disproportionately more or less time than the others,” he said. Class III Dean Lizzie Leonard agreed, appreciating “the thought and care that goes into making sure that classes, clubs, advisory, sports, class and US programming, etc. can all still meet—even on a week where things are thrown off kilter.”

These past few weeks will not be the only time during the school year when the Upper School should expect a change in schedule: in fact, Sugrue identified eight more special schedules in the 2025-2026 academic year.

Looking ahead, Mira Lu ’27 suggested a change in the amount of time given to advisories during special schedule weeks. On Friday, October 17, for example, students spent over an hour in advisories. “That time could have been used to make up the shortened class periods instead,” she said.

To remedy the “hectic nature of the week,” Mina proposed “a consistent length for every class meeting and a longer passing time in-between classes.”

Cook, on the other hand, thought that Milton could benefit from “an ‘X Week’" to go alongside Orange and Blue weeks during special schedules. She explained, “If we had [the same] special schedule that we used whenever we had a short week, it might feel more familiar to teachers and students, and we could plan accordingly.”

While special schedules can be both frustrating and helpful for the Milton community, the school administration has found them necessary. Many students and teachers simply adapt to the shifting routines. Blanton said, “For the most part, I just kind of roll with it.”