The 40-Minute Advisory Schedule
A school’s wellness committee has a 40-minute advisory period on Fridays, from 12:00 to 12:40. The library and the gym are each available for only 30 minutes. The gym is also used by the basketball club from 12:10 to 12:30. The committee wants two activities: a silent reading block and a nutrition workshop. Reading needs 25 minutes and must happen before the workshop. The workshop needs 20 minutes and requires the gym. A principal’s memo says, “Academic activities should take priority over optional recreation during advisory.” The draft plan is: reading in the library from 12:00 to 12:25, then the workshop in the gym from 12:25 to 12:45.
1. Identify two concrete scheduling conflicts in the draft plan. Cite the specific times and rooms that create each conflict.
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Two conflicts stand out:
- Gym overlap: The workshop is scheduled for 12:25–12:45, but the gym is used by the basketball club from 12:10 to 12:30. The workshop would overlap the club for the first 5 minutes and could not start on time.
- Period overrun: Advisory ends at 12:40, but the workshop ends at 12:45. Even if the gym were free, the plan runs 5 minutes past the period.
The reading block itself fits: 12:00–12:25 in the library uses 25 minutes and does not conflict with the stated library availability.
2. The committee can keep only one activity this Friday. Using the principal’s memo and the availability constraints, which should it keep, and what should it do with the other? Explain your reasoning.
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Keep the reading block this Friday and reschedule the workshop. The reading block is an academic activity, fits the 25-minute requirement, and uses the library without conflict. The principal’s memo prioritizes academic activities over optional recreation, which supports keeping reading.
The workshop is harder to defend: it requires the gym, and the gym is unavailable until 12:30. After 12:30 only 10 minutes remain before the 12:40 end of advisory, which is not enough for a 20-minute workshop. Moving the workshop to a later Friday-or to a day when the gym is free-avoids forcing a conflict. If the committee treats the nutrition workshop as academic, it still cannot fit this Friday, so the scheduling constraint controls.
3. What is one piece of information you would need before deciding whether the basketball club must yield the gym?
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Whether the basketball club is optional recreation or a required activity. The memo gives priority to academic activities over optional recreation, but if the club is required-or if it has no alternative space-the committee should not assume it can be displaced. Also useful: whether the library can host the nutrition workshop, which would remove the gym conflict entirely.