At Schenectady High School, dozens of students walked out of class in protest to a new scheduling decision they say was made with very little input from them.

Student Marina Tchako organized a walkout on October 18, the same day they learned classes would now be condensed, resulting in students sitting for class for longer periods.

“It feels like the time is going by a lot slower than it normally would and it feels like the work is a lot more. Even though you think that having less classes in a day would help, it doesn’t feel like it,” said Tchako.

The school is calling it block scheduling. With the new schedule in place, students go from eight periods that last 45 minutes each to sitting in four classes, each lasting 90 minutes.

Marina says it's a tough pill to swallow after coming off the heels of doing hours of virtual learning from home, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Coming back, it was said to us, 'we want you guys to have a normal year and normalcy,' and for this to happen, it was like they went back on their word,” said Tchako.

Mental health experts say this is a normal response for young teens returning to school, while trying to navigate their emotions around change.

Laquanya Haggray is the CEO of at Ready Counseling Services based in the Capital Region.

“What they were saying is, 'listen to us, we are struggling here and it's not easy,' ” Haggray explained.

Haggray added, in this case, school administrators should give students and parents the opportunity for face to face communication and feedback sessions during the year.

"I think one of the the things that makes it much more challenging is the dismissiveness that people are encountering as opposed to welcoming the concern and addressing it,” said Haggray.

When reached for comment, Schenectady’s district director of communications directed Spectrum News 1 to their website and a YouTube video instead. The video was posted to their channel just days before the school switched over to block scheduling.

The school administration called the “reset” in an October 12 letter sent to parents, a way to reduce classroom transitions and to “limit potential negative interactions and student and staff exposure to possible cases of COVID.”

For now, students say they just want their voices to be heard.

“I’d love to see a stronger teacher-student bond, or administration bond where they actually take into consideration some of our complaints and opinions,” said Tchako.