Oak Harbor High School administrators and the school board may be acting too quickly in implementing a block schedule beginning next school year.

In a nutshell, the block schedule would have students taking eight classes each year rather than six. Today’s six 50-minute periods would be broken up into four 80-minute periods, with students taking each class every other day rather than every day.

Proponents say the change will result in longer teaching periods, less transition time between classes, more time for in-room assistance and a greater variety of classes.

Teachers are bound to like the new schedule as they’d be teaching fewer classes every day — three rather than five, assuming one period each day is set aside for preparation.

Opponents have hardly been heard, but the major drawback is obvious. The longer periods every-other-day do not add up to the same number of hours spent in the classroom as the existing system offers. It falls short by some 15 percent. If you don’t think that’s important, ask any math teacher trying to get through a tough curriculum in even less time.

The benefits of a schedule change may outweigh trade-offs. Many high schools have already adopted the block schedule. But the issues need to be seriously studied by a panel of impartial citizens, who should then report to the school board.

If it’s not done in time for next year, so be it. It’s more important to do it right than have regrets after hurrying to adopt a new schedule.