Work piles high as counselors try to sort out the new trimester schedule

Work piles high

Due to the new schedules for the 08-09 school year, tutorials and professional growth meetings have been re-adjusted.

The students have lost late start days in the new schedule, and teachers still have to meet for professional growth.

Previously, these meetings were held on late start days, and were a period of time where teachers would meet and work on ways to improve the school.

In order to make up for the loss, professional growth will be held during the first Wednesday tutorial of each month.

A second tutorial will be held, for most of the teachers, on the third Wednesday of each month.

However, some departments will meet at different specified times. The Social Studies Department will meet during the Leadership Committee meetings, which occur on the last Wednesday tutorial of each month.

According to Dr. Tom McCoy, the principal, a full list of all the professional growth meetings will be released to the school around September 29, at the latest.

For some students, this loss of tutorials will be unfortunate, because there will be less time for students to get help. Junior Jen Steindorf has trouble getting enough hours with AVID when a tutorial is lost.

“I’m in AVID and I’m required to have an hour of tutorial each week,” Steindorf said. “Having only one tutorial for 30 minutes some weeks makes it hard to get the whole hour, and my grade will go down [if I don’t].”

Fortunately for students like Steindorf, many teachers stay after school or come early during regular days of the week, and Thursday tutorials and lunch meetings are also an option.

Other schools within PUSD take different approaches to tutorials and professional time.­­­

At Westview, a built-in time every Tuesday and Thursday called Wolverine Time acts as their tutorial.

Poway High has a schedule similar to MC’s last year’s schedule, where professional growth takes place during late start Mondays, and the tutorial occurs at the end of every lab day.

However, their late start Mondays do not occur every Monday, rather, they occur during various Mondays throughout the year.

Rancho Bernardo High School has yet another approach, having professional time for teachers every Wednesday after school and tutorials every Thursday after school.

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