The Advisory class period has been canceled for the 2023-2024 school year after a vote amongst teachers to preserve the block failed, according to a source within the district.

Under the terms of the 2021/22 – 2023/24 three-year contract between the Plymouth-Canton Board of Education and the Plymouth-Canton Education Association, the local branch of the MEA/NEA teacher’s union, 75% of building staff had to vote to preserve the class period in a secret-ballot election, as the block would have been an uncompensated deviation from the original contract. In the final tally, 71.4% had voted to preserve the hour, with 28.5% voting against. Since the tally was under the 75% threshold, the deviation of the contract did not pass, effectively meaning that the class period was canceled.

Advisory will be replaced with the return of a homeroom, extending the length of one of the other class periods in the schedule. In previous years, this occurred during second or third hour, depending on the year. This change will not take place until the 2023-2024 school year, and the current schedule will remain unaffected until then.

“The vast majority of us [teachers] voted to keep [advisory] because we think it is beneficial for students. [The class period] is more equitable because there are students who can’t stay after school to make up tests or assignments,” said Michelle Smiley, Canton teacher. “It’s beneficial for kids to get support when they need support, and to not miss instruction to make up tests or assignments.”

Correction: a previous version of this article incorrectly states that the previous homeroom time lasted for 17 minutes. Most recently, in the 2019-2020 school year, this length was eight minutes. The Perspective apologizes for this error.