Teachers, admin work on plans for next year’s schedule

With a trimester framework set, the administration is currently working on details of the schedule, including tutorials, professional time, and most importantly for students, late starts.

The last item is something that students have missed this year, but if all goes well, will have a chance to enjoy again.

“We know students would like to start late once a week,” Principal Tom McCoy said. “We hear it loud and clear, and I don’t think I have ever had a student come up and complain about having late starts.”

However, the scheduling committee’s first task was to find which form of tutorial students found most effective: two days of 20-25 minutes or a single 50-55 minute period every Wednesday.

“We envision tutorial being a time of school shutdown, kind of like a vacuum, encouraging students to attend since there won’t be any sports or meetings,” McCoy said.

Students were polled in third period classes on March 23, but when the committee began to review the few results it received they were not sure if the data reflected a vote of students or a vote of the teachers.

“If it’s a straw poll of the students, then teachers still need to vote because they have the final say,” math teacher and committee member Joe McEachron said.

Of the approximately 40 responses they did receive, the majority favored having two short tutorials weekly.

Once that matter is settled, professional time is next on the group’s agenda.

“Structuring and defining professional time is crucial,” McEachron said. “All extras like tutorials, minimum days for testing and professional time are all paid for by classroom time. Some teachers don’t want extra stuff, and we have to find out if they are going to be a majority.”

With 180 school days, every minute in the daily schedule actually amounts to three hours during the course of the year. This creates vast fluctuation around the state mandated minimum of 1,080 hours, making scheduling tough.

One possible idea being discussed is a minimum day once a month to allow for professional time. Another extra, minimum days for finals, will probably remain. One final on an assembly schedule would happen the first day followed by two days of two finals each on an early-release schedule.

As far as late starts, McCoy said they could occur two Fridays a month in the neighborhood of 8:30.

One thing that won’t change with the move to trimesters is semester breaks. McCoy’s draft schedule has no-student days penciled in for November 14 and March 5, following the ends of trimesters.

The committee plans to meet weekly with a May 1 goal in mind to finalize a schedule.

“It all comes down to ‘What do you want to spend your minutes on?’” McCoy said. At MC, that’s a question that remains to be answered completely.

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