AP high wants consultant to consider schedule change

Avon Park High School administrators continue to seriously consider changing to a trimester class schedule next school year and are requesting the services of a paid consutant to help the school and district investigate the unique schedule.

Avon Park High English teacher Kim Jahna, who is working on the schedule change effort, believes the trimester schedule will benefit students in many ways.

With the school year being divided into thirds, it will allow the school to offer seven and one-half credits per year instead of the current seven credits, she said.

"We will be able to work in elective courses like an FCAT prep course or an extra course for students to take in writing," she said.

Also, since one trimester equals a semester, some students can have a whole year of Algebra II before they would take their college admission exams - S.A.T. (Scholastic Aptitude Test and A.C.T. (American College Testing), Jahna said.

"The timing of the classes works out to benefit our students," she said.

The school hopes to bring in a consultant to the March 17 school board meeting to answer questions and inform the school board and district administration about the proposed schedule.

Mark Westerberg, assistant superintendent of schools for Spring Lake County, Mich., has spearheaded this schedule in schools across the country, Jahna said.

The School Board of Highlands County is scheduled to vote March 2 on paying $3,000 for Westerberg's services.

"We feel it is good for our school; it's not a tremendous amount of money and he will continue to help us throughout this whole process," Jahna said.

At the Jan. 19 school board meeting, Jahna noted that a change is needed because the school received a D accountability grade last year (missing an F by only 11 points) and 251 students (23 percent) failed one or more classes in the first nine weeks of the 2009-10 school year.

A number of advantages were noted: an immediate opportunity for a student to retake a failed class, students can take more electives, more in-depth learning due to longer class periods and fewer class changes has the potential for fewer discipline problems.

Highlights of the proposed trimester schedule:

• Three 12-week grading periods per school year.

• Five classes per day.

• Class periods would be 65 minutes in duration.

• Progress reports sent out at six weeks with a report card at the end of each 12-week period.

• The common teacher planning time would be after the last (fifth) class period from 2:35 - 3:30 p.m.