Parents, Students Tell York SB to Ditch 4X4 Schedule

By Amber Lester Kennedy Wednesday, January 25, 2012

York County parents and students voiced their disapproval of a hybrid 4X4 high school schedule at Monday’s School Board meeting.

Twenty-four speakers described scheduling snafus, declining grade point averages and trouble keeping up with classwork. The school division implemented a new schedule in three of its five high schools – York, Bruton and York River Academy – at the start of the school year.

Under the new schedule, students take eight classes a year. Some classes, called the 4X4 classes, meet every day for a semester. But other classes, such as Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate, meet every other day for the entire school year.

The administration first proposed implementing a hybrid 4X4 schedule in all five high schools in September 2010. But parents and teachers at Grafton and Tabb lobbied to be left out of the program for its planned two-year implementation period.

Administrators believe the schedule gives students more options, not only to repeat failed classes, but to take more electives. Teachers also have a chance to see their students every day.

But the 24 speakers said the schedule is not working for York County. Parents have circulated an online petition to switch back to the old seven-course-a-day schedule, with classes alternating every day. As of Tuesday afternoon, the petition had 486 signatures.

During the citizen comment period, students described problems with the implementation of the new schedule, particularly scheduling challenges. Freshman Dominique Rainey said she was assigned to a drama class that meets every day for the semester, but is joined every other day by students who will take the same course for the full year. As a result, the teacher has to spend part of every other class teaching the previous day’s lesson, and Rainey hears it twice.

She also said most of her first semester was spent in electives, but her spring will be spent in core classes. “I haven’t had math or English since last year,” she said. Her concerns were echoed by sophomore Kate Jacoby, who said her schedule for the next semester is so rigorous, she decided not to play softball in order to focus on homework.

Several parents and students said the pace of the 4X4 classes, which complete a year’s work in a semester, was too fast. Jennifer LeCount, a York parent who teaches English at Menchville High School in Newport News, said the schedule “forces students to cram, not to learn.” She told the board that parents in Albemarle County, where a similar schedule is in place, have dubbed it the “Frankenschedule” because “it’s an experiment that produces a monster.”

Lisa Gilson told the board she fell behind on her classes when she suffered an injury. She was able to receive home-based instruction, but said it took her almost to the end of the semester to catch up in her 4X4 classes, and she received a B in English. “This schedule will hurt our opportunities to get merit scholarships,” she said.

Although parents say the classes are moving too fast, they also note the courses aren’t covering as much material as the year-round classes. Samantha Abbott, whose son attends York High, said his math analysis class reached chapter six out of 11 chapters in their textbook; the year-round class has reached chapter five, which indicates they’ll finish the book by the end of the year, she said.

Julie Reichle served on one of the implementation committees that met last year to plan the schedule change. She said the members were told there would be additional training for teachers and that electives would be added to the schedule, but only one – guitar – was added. She is also concerned that teachers are too afraid for their jobs to speak up about problems with the schedule.

On Tuesday, she told WY Daily, “We need transparency between the school board, the school administration, the parents, the teachers and the students. All students in York County have the right to receive the same opportunities.”

Her husband, Scott, told the board it should seek input from teachers, anonymously, at the end of the year to find out how they really felt. He encouraged board members to drop by schools and see for themselves whether the schedule seems to be working.

At the end of the meeting, new board member Cindy Kirschke said the 4X4 implementation was part of her motivation to run for school board. Her son attends Grafton High School, and she told the audience she hopes he will not have to learn under the new schedule. She also asked that results from the Standards of Learning tests administered in the first semester be made public.

For more information about the hybrid schedule and its implementation, click here.