York School Board Approves High School Schedule Change

By Amber Lester Kennedy Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Students at three York County high schools will face a new schedule next school year.

The York County School Board voted 4-1 to implement a hybrid 4X4 schedule in the fall of 2011. The change will take place at Bruton, York and York River Academy. Board member Robert George voted against the proposal after his own motion to delay the decision for one more year was not seconded.

The administration initially recommended every high school adopt the new schedule, but Superintendent Eric Williams amended his recommendation to leave out Grafton and Tabb High Schools, citing more support from the parents and staff at Bruton, York and York River Academy. If the schedule is expanded to the other two high schools, it won’t happen until the fall of 2013 at the earliest, giving the division time to analyze the impact of the change.

A lengthy citizen comment period at Monday’s meeting illustrated the division between community members over the proposal. Several teachers, many from Bruton High School, spoke passionately in favor of the new opportunities they’d have under the hybrid 4X4 schedule. Fourteen parents asked the board not to make the change, however.

Under the new schedule, students will enroll in four, 90-minute classes every day. Most classes will meet every day of the semester, but some classes, such as Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate and performing arts, would meet on alternating days for the entire year. For example, a ninth-grader might take English, Health & Physical Education and Algebra every day, but alternate two electives for his or her fourth block. Under the current schedule, students take six 90-minute classes on alternating days and one 50-minute course that meets daily for the entire year.

The division first began exploring its options in the fall of 2009, when a committee was formed of students, parents, teachers, principals and staff members. The committee visited two high schools currently using the 4X4 schedule – Thomas Edison High School in Alexandria and Harrisonburg High School in Harrisonburg – and were impressed with the schedule. In September, several committee members presented its recommendation to the board to implement a hybrid 4X4 schedule.

The new schedule will allow students to take at least eight classes each year, adding up to 32 credits over four years. Next year, a student pursuing the advanced studies diploma will need 26 credits to graduate; with the 4X4 schedule, students will have more elective options or can retake classes they’ve failed. In addition, teachers will have more face time with their students, who they will see every day.

But many parents weren’t convinced the change is for the best. At Monday’s meeting and at previous parent forums, they expressed concern about how the change will affect AP, IB, performing arts, foreign language, math continuity and more. Many parents were concerned about the possible effects the new schedule could have on military students transferring into the division. Others were worried that the increased opportunities to retake classes only increased the chances for students to fail without early intervention.

Shelly Cihak, coordinator for the IB program at York High School, spoke first on Monday, throwing her support behind the change. Next year, the state will require seniors to take a personal finance/economics course; under the current schedule, that would force IB students to either take the economics course in place of their only elective or pay to take the course over the summer. She said the hybrid 4X4 schedule would allow her students to still get a chance to take an elective course, the economics course and the rigorous classes required by IB.

York High science teacher Justin Keyes said the additional credit opportunities would allow his advanced students to take classes they currently don’t have room for in their schedules, such as physics. “I teach IB students who expect to be engineers, doctors and physicists but who don’t take physics because it doesn’t fit into their schedule,” he said.

Lisa Westlund, a special education teacher at Bruton, shared that her own special needs son attends a school with a 4X4 schedule and he has excelled under that format. “I have found it to be a blessing,” she said, adding that only taking four classes at a time has led to his improved grades and test scores.

On the other side of the argument, parents pleaded with the board to take more time to consider its options and find accurate data that proves the change benefits students. Rhonda Gianturco, parent of two students at York High, said the majority of Virginia schools that have been nationally ranked as the “best” use the same alternating block schedule currently in use. She said parents have been given no valid reason for the proposed change.

Joe Dennie expressed concern that the classes would be crammed into semesters, and would be “dumbed down” because teachers will need to move through the material quickly.

Another mother shared that she had collected 596 signatures on a petition asking the board to vote against the proposal.

Many of the parents who spoke said that much of their anger stemmed from a lack of communication or information from the school division. Both Williams and the school board admitted the dissemination of information could have been better, but pledged to proceed with the implementation in a much more organized and inclusive way. Chief Academic Officer Stephanie Guy outlined a plan to form two committees — a steering committee and school-based committees — charged with planning for the upcoming year and sharing the plans with employees, parents and students.

Before the vote, the board members shared their feelings about the proposal. Board chair Mark Medford read a list he’d compiled of decisions that were criticized in the past — the switch to the present schedule, the change to block scheduling at the middle school level, the creation of an arts magnet high school and the creation of the state’s first charter school — before saying, “It’s our history of change that makes our schools what they are today.”