12/8/09 Bend
By Doug Johnson
Shifting the High School class schedule in the Bend La Pine School District is a chance which has been in the works for years. Now it's becoming a reality.
"Really looking at starting a new schedule next year," says Dr. Lynn Baker, Principal at Summit High School.
Tuesday night, principals from Summit, Mt. View and Bend High Schools told the school board and superintendent about their plan to shift to a rotating schedule. Currently, high schoolers take four 90 minute classes per semester, and have each class once a day.
"And that a student supposedly completes one year of instruction in one semester," says Baker.
Under the proposed new schedule, students would meet only once every other day, but each class would last the entire year.
"Kids learn, without gaps, longer periods of time, there's more digesting it," says H.D. Weddel, Principal at Bend Senior High School
Instead of turning in assignments every day, students would have forty eight hours to do the same amount of homework. The change also allows time for the creation of a new period, dubbed intervention for students who are falling behind and enrichments for those hoping to get ahead. Both would be mandatory.
"So we think by creating some interventions, creating some enrichments, that we'll be better set to check if kids are learning," Weddel says.
Some parents aren't so sure. One who voiced concerns to the board, but wish to remain anonymous, says she's worried the new schedule caters more to students falling behind, and neglects students who are doing well. What the enrichment period would entail still hasn't been worked out.
"It would be, well any number of things, it may be SAT prep classes, they may be going to the futures center for career exploration," Baker says.
Intervention on the other hand, is a time for students to get extra help on school and home work. The change doesn't have to be approved by the school board, just the superintendent, who says he will support it. The School District has to start planning for the next school year by February. The principals of Summit, Mt. View and Bend High plan to officially recommend the change to the superintendent in January.
Comments
Quit messing around!!
I was in school at what was the beginning of the "great experiment." What a total WASTE of time! People/parents have been screaming to no avail, "Get back to the basics!' And what happens?? We have kids that can't do basic math, spell, or express themselves with any level of intelligence! Have you ever been to one of our numerous fast food places and watched a kid get totally confused! Each item is printed on the key, and then each item, the amount, etc.. is sent to the next kid to fill... and what inevitably happens? Yep.. "Ooops" What happened to having our grade schools work on the basics and letting the colleges handle the advanced information? How many kids, coming straight out of High School, have to take basic math and English courses just so they CAN START to take the advanced subjects? There is a late 19th early 20th century 8th grade test that appears on the web from time to time. We all laugh when we can't even come close to understanding this "old stuff." Personally, I don't think we should be laughing. Do you?