Late Start Fridays, or the one Friday per month occurrences of school starting at 8:50am instead of 8:00am, have recently been put into place at MacDuffie. However, according to Head of School Steve Griffin, they are not a late start for everyone as the faculty still come in at the normal time to meet. This is to give the teachers extra time to talk about the day, check up on students, or just talk to each other in general. 

Griffin said that, “What that’s doing for faculty and staff is it frees up the time from 7:50, when we normally have our first meeting of the day, through 8:45, to work on other things.”

These other things include interdisciplinary meetings between departments, celebration of faculty, and other small improvements within the community that can be accomplished in this extended time window. 

This new implementation has been well received by the students. Sophomore Mike Toth was frank in his reaction to the later start.

Toth said, “It feels great…I get to sleep in a little bit, miss assembly, and I can lay in bed a little longer and get some breakfast. It’s great.”

Senior Zoe Wade echoed Toth’s sentiment saying, “I think it’s a good idea, because everyone has a very long week and should be able to wake up a little bit later for one day of the week. It’s really nice.” 

However, not everyone sees the change in this way. College Counselor and English Teacher Jennifer Rogers, who is also a MacDuffie parent, mentioned one downside of Late Start Fridays, citing the time as an issue.

Rogers said that because her daughter doesn’t drive, the late start does not benefit her. “We either have to make arrangements for her, or she’ll have to come in early and check in, which she’s not really excited about, because part of the reward is for students to sleep in a little bit.”

Though it might be tough for some parents timing-wise, Griffin still thinks it will be beneficial for the faculty to better the school community. He said that ultimately, “It gives the faculty a chance to ask questions and start dialogue.”

According to Griffin, there are six Late Start Fridays on deck for this year, or one for every full month left of the school year.