WCS Adopts New 'Block' Scheduling
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
Students at Warsaw Community High School next year will be the first to plan their classes using the new block scheduling.
Unanimously approved by the school board Monday, block scheduling means the school day will be divided into four 90-minute classes instead of the seven 50-minute classes used now.
The issue of block scheduling has been studied since the early '90s, said parent and former school board member Sally Davison, and it offers a "real solid alternative to what is happening in the high school today. Our students are changing and I think that we should change in support of our students," she said.
By allowing 90 minutes per class per day, a semester's worth of work can be done in nine weeks, assistant principal Jennifer Brumfield said in the October meeting. Principal Paul Crousore said Monday that if block scheduling also is used in summer school, it would provide a "fifth quarter" of remediation and allow students to take college-level work earlier.
The board's concern was the lack of parity between high school teachers, who would get 90-minute preparation periods, and elementary and middle school teachers, who get approximately 30-minute prep periods.
The board said it would consider the problem to make sure it was handling the issue fairly with elementary teachers.
Crousore also said block scheduling would require additional training for high school teachers, since teaching a 90-minute class daily will call for more varied teaching approaches. "There has to be multiple learning activities going on during the block," he said. "It can't just be one mode."
Staff development and training, said board members Joel Scrafton and Craig Allebach, are the key to the success of block scheduling. "We have to provide assistance for teachers who need it," Scrafton said.
In other business, the board:
• Unanimously approved advertising for bids for four new school buses for next year and for the installation of fiber optic lines to WCHS for computer equipment. The cost of the fiber optics will come from a $200,000 grant from the Indiana Department of Education.
• Heard a report from Claypool Elementary on its use of computer programs in helping students with reading, spelling, language mechanics and other skills.
• Heard from school superintendent Dr. Lee Harman that districtwide enrollment is 6,354 students, as compared with this time last year when enrollment was 6,328 students. Harman said high school enrollment is 1,873, the largest number of students since the high school was built.
Harman also reminded school board members about the Education Summit, which will take place Nov. 20.
The school board's next meeting will be in the administration building at 7 p.m. Dec. 8. [[In-content Ad]]
Students at Warsaw Community High School next year will be the first to plan their classes using the new block scheduling.
Unanimously approved by the school board Monday, block scheduling means the school day will be divided into four 90-minute classes instead of the seven 50-minute classes used now.
The issue of block scheduling has been studied since the early '90s, said parent and former school board member Sally Davison, and it offers a "real solid alternative to what is happening in the high school today. Our students are changing and I think that we should change in support of our students," she said.
By allowing 90 minutes per class per day, a semester's worth of work can be done in nine weeks, assistant principal Jennifer Brumfield said in the October meeting. Principal Paul Crousore said Monday that if block scheduling also is used in summer school, it would provide a "fifth quarter" of remediation and allow students to take college-level work earlier.
The board's concern was the lack of parity between high school teachers, who would get 90-minute preparation periods, and elementary and middle school teachers, who get approximately 30-minute prep periods.
The board said it would consider the problem to make sure it was handling the issue fairly with elementary teachers.
Crousore also said block scheduling would require additional training for high school teachers, since teaching a 90-minute class daily will call for more varied teaching approaches. "There has to be multiple learning activities going on during the block," he said. "It can't just be one mode."
Staff development and training, said board members Joel Scrafton and Craig Allebach, are the key to the success of block scheduling. "We have to provide assistance for teachers who need it," Scrafton said.
In other business, the board:
• Unanimously approved advertising for bids for four new school buses for next year and for the installation of fiber optic lines to WCHS for computer equipment. The cost of the fiber optics will come from a $200,000 grant from the Indiana Department of Education.
• Heard a report from Claypool Elementary on its use of computer programs in helping students with reading, spelling, language mechanics and other skills.
• Heard from school superintendent Dr. Lee Harman that districtwide enrollment is 6,354 students, as compared with this time last year when enrollment was 6,328 students. Harman said high school enrollment is 1,873, the largest number of students since the high school was built.
Harman also reminded school board members about the Education Summit, which will take place Nov. 20.
The school board's next meeting will be in the administration building at 7 p.m. Dec. 8. [[In-content Ad]]