I have been mistaken on that, periods may have been longer, pay lower (this larger staffs), that may have been how they got away with not having to schedule study halls.
While it may be a good thing for many students, it is still extremely expensive baby-sitting… 
“While it may be a good thing for many students, it is still extremely expensive baby-sitting”, yes but without hiring more teachers it is the only way to do it. Our teachers contract has 5 teaching periods, one prep & 2 supervisory, so all kids can not take classes all 8 periods.
My school has never used the same schedule for more than one year.
Freshman year each day one class would be 30 minutes longer than the other ones, allowing for more instruction in a certain class.
Sophomore year we got rid of the rolling schedule and shortened each class to make a mandatory study hall that lasted 30 minutes at the end of each day.
Junior year we got rid of that as well and added a 7th period.
Who knows what senior year will bring.
Though I definitely did not always use the study hall time to do work, it did come in handy a good bit.
My kids had study halls…two a week until senior year when each had one daily.
“My personal opinion is that every student would benefit from some blocked off study time,” My personal opinion is that other parents very often think they know what’s best for my kids but they don’t. My kids would cry bloody murder if someone forced them to drop out of a class they really wanted to take in order to sit in a room with kids who are disruptively noisy, trying to do work which would be more efficiently done in the quiet and comfort of our house. This is not a hypothetical for us. We had a large and vocal group of parents trying to make study hall mandatory for all kids, because they wanted their kids to have study halls, which they already could under the current system. So what they were really after was to force everyone else’s kids into study halls, presumably so that colleges would not look less favorably on their kids. My kids were so relieved when the school decided that this is a decision each family can make in the best interest of each kid.
@mathyone You are right, not every child would want a study hall. I should have said “My personal opinion is that every student would benefit from HAVING THE OPTION OF blocked off study time.”
I agree with you that it is absolutely ridiculous to ban study halls in order to keep other students from having a better academic record, and had I been in your shoes I likely would have had some choice words for these parents. But in my son’s case, five of his six classes are AP classes (chemistry is a double period), so I don’t think having a study hall will look “bad” on his record.
Wow, our kids can have them if they want, but don’t have to. At our school, they are useful as kids are not allowed to be disruptive, they are not “forced” to do work, but not allowed to bother those who do.
Study hall is a good idea for kids who don’t study. For those who study on their own 3-5 hrs at home , it’s not necessary. 
With some of the commitments of extra curricular activities it is impossible to study 3-5 hours at home. It was of benefit to both of my kids & they weren’t kids who “don’t study”
Study Hall? My son didn’t even have lunch after his freshman year. If you are doing a language, all possible AP classes and want to be in choir or band there is just not room in the day. It is a shame, but that’s how the system works in our district.
Seniors at our school have “senior commons” during study hall periods. It’s a time to relax and socialize. Plus…our school,has a rotating schedule. On days when you have study hall,first period, seniors don’t have to show up until the start of second period. And when you have study hall last period, you can leave to go home.
We had seven periods in our school day. They had plenty of time for five classes, plus PE/health, and band. PE/Health didn’t meet daily.
Not possible to have a study hall in our high school, as there is no “hall,” cafeteria, or even sufficient library seating to have one.
I’d love to see an educational option where students spent a little less time in each class and more time having a nice, leisurely lunch and for things like chorus, orchestra, and what we called in elementary school, “recess.”
A college class meets for three hours a week and the credit earned (through dual enrollment) is equal to attending a high school class every single day for a year. Students need to have less time in the classroom and more time to find a relaxing spot to simply read their textbooks, as well as other activities that make one a well-rounded person.
I’m always amazed by the people on this forum who have an anathema towards study hall/early release/late arrival.
We did not have a study hall, per se. However, we were capped on the number of classes that we could take, so we had periods of “unstructured time,” which we were expected to use productively. With mandatory EC’s and 3-4 hours of HW a night, most students were forced to put that time to good use.
I can’t believe there are kids who don’t have lunch.
My kids’ school doesn’t have study halls. But there’s no lunch skipping. Their lunch is long enough that there may be some free time in there. Although the cafeteria line can be super long so if you eat the school lunch and aren’t in line early you won’t have extra time. Or so I hear.
And dual enrollment at my kids’ school is a semester of credit per semester. DE English will give you 6 hours of college credit.
My kids have always had 2 non-academic ckasses. Music and/or PE. Many students at their school don’t but I’m glad they did.
Most of my son’s friends didn’t have lunch either. There was no way my son was going to drop choir or any of his academic classes for lunch, although it would have been a good break for him. He had to eat a sandwich in a class where the teacher would allow it. He also took PE in the summer to help!!!
I had no lunch second semester but my teachers allowed me to bring and/or get lunch from the cafeteria. I also got to leave school early every other day and thats when I ate lunch
Tons of kids at my children’s schools had study blocks. I would venture to say most?
Are schools where kids have to schedule a lunch period instead of a class mostly in places where kids need to have staggered lunches because there isn’t enough space for everyone to eat indoors at once?
Our HS has a 30-minute lunch between 4th and 5th period. That’s when most of the clubs have their meetings (in the club adviser’s classroom). But, we don’t have the issue of a lot of kids wanting to eat indoors or having many days with weather that is too hot, too cold, or rainy. So, I’m surprised that some places don’t have a designated lunch period in their bell schedule, but maybe it’s just a geography thing.