Beginning Sept. 25, all DeSoto County Schools students will be dismissed from school on Fridays two hours and 15 minutes early. According to an email to parents from the school district, the new 70% Fridays were implemented to give teachers more planning time due to the challenges of virtual learning.

Students and teachers alike have celebrated the schedule change.

“I’m excited about 70% Fridays,” science teacher Amber Smith said. “I think it’s going to give me time to get grading done and plan for the following week. It’s also a great thing for the students, considering they can start their weekend early and relax after a long week.”

The change will also affect Career Tech students who Monday-Thursday eat lunch before traveling to Career Tech East. Now on Fridays, they will go to their Career Tech classes first, and eat lunch when they return to campus.

“It’s good that we’re gonna have a break, but it’s also bad because our time will be cut short,” said Jonathan Rosas, a junior in the IT program. “I enjoy my Career Tech class and we won’t be able to go over as much.”

Many students and staff members have agreed with Rosas’s logic, but have mainly focused on the positive contributions.

“I do hate that the students won’t be here and we won’t get to see them, but this is going to help us be better teachers,” head girls basketball coach Emily Owens said. “We’ll have more time to work at school instead of feeling like every evening and weekend is full of planning and grading. Students can greatly benefit from this as well.”