7 periods for high schools next year

PALMER — Mat-Su Borough high school students will be taking seven classes throughout the school week next year, district administrators announced at last week’s school board meeting.

This means that every Monday and Friday, students will rotate through seven 47-minute classes, and in the middle of the week they’ll have four, 73-minute blocks.

Designed as a way to offer students more course options without costing the district additional funds, the increased course load amounts to 28 credits by the time they graduate — four more than the district’s current system, explained Mike Vrvilo, MSBSD executive director of instruction.

“We want to make sure we do what’s right for kids,” Vrvilo said. “It’s a response to the reduction in staff at the high schools over the last decade. Over the last few months, we listened to the pros and cons and weighed the different options. It’s not a perfect solution, but we had to make a decision.”

By reducing each class period by up to nine minutes in some cases in order to fit another class into the schedule next year, students will be losing about 500 minutes total in instructional time per semester and teachers will either have to repeat the same class one more time during the day or have an additional class to prepare, he said.

Superintendent Ken Burnley said he believes this will force teachers to make better use of class time. He said that when he first arrived as the new leader of the district last year, he asked students how many teachers actually start class right away when the bell rings.

“Some said they start right away, but others said it takes a few minutes before the class gets going,” Burnley said. “This will encourage them to utilize the full period each time.”

Assistant Superintendent of Instruction Deena Paramo agrees teachers will have to take a second look at how they plan their class time.

“Maybe they’ll discover that they do need bell assignments and maybe they can figure out a better way to take attendance,” Paramo said.

School board members said they’ve heard concerns from parents about the increase in homework an additional class could cause.

Teachers worry about having an additional class to plan and grade, as well as possibly losing planning and advising time.

Paramo said middle school teachers and students have been handling seven classes without a problem.

“So it is possible for high school students to keep up with seven periods,” Paramo said.

Board President Mike Dunleavy asked student representative Kendra McPhail, the daughter of Executive Director of Instruction Lebron McPhail, her thoughts on the seven-period day.

After some hesitation, McPhail said she likes the idea.

“I personally agree with the seven-period day because it offers more class selections so that students don’t have to make them up during the summer,” she said.

Dunleavy asked Vrvilo if the concept was more common in other districts.

Vrvilo said “quite a few” high schools throughout the country have seven periods, mostly as a response to reductions in budgets. However, it’s more challenging in the Valley because of a shorter school day, he said.

“School days are typically 45 minutes to an hour longer elsewhere,” he said, adding that the new schedule for the district’s high schools will be more aligned with that at the Career and Technical High School in Wasilla.

“We did take out the advisory period and we’ve heard some concerns of staff to bring it back in,” Vrvilo said. “So we might end up taking a few minutes off each period in order to have an advisory period.”

Board Member Lynn Gattis, however, cautioned against allowing the sort of advisory period currently at Colony High.

“The advisory period there was poorly done,” Gattis said. “Those who drove to school ended up skipping it altogether.”

Burnley also announced that next year all high schools will start 15 minutes later in the mornings — or at 7:45 — and that they’ll start at 8 the following year in response to studies finding that teens function better later in the morning.

This means elementary schools will start at 9:15 next year and 9:30 the year after that.

Board member Susan Pougher was thankful for that.

“My students will be very happy to have that extra time to sleep in the morning,” she said.

The board is meeting with the Mat-Su Borough Assembly in a joint session at the assembly chambers tonight at 6 to discuss budget matters. If needed, the board will meet Wednesday at 6 p.m. at Palmer High School Library to further discuss the budget.

Since MSBSD is still in the dark about how much money it will get from the borough and the state, it can’t finalize its budget at this time. Threatened cuts to library, music and P.E. staff and increased class sizes are “worst case scenario,” Assistant Superintendent Ken Forrest reminded the board.

Contact K.T. McKee at kate.mckee@frontiersman.com or 352-2252.