4/23/09
Española Valley High School decided to ignore a teacher vote earlier this month and go ahead with a change in its class schedule for next school year.
Despite the fact a majority of teachers voted in February to keep their current class schedule, the school’s Department Advisory Team decided to make the change in early April.
Principal Bruce Hopmeier said he held the vote on the schedule change at the suggestion of some teachers, but the team, which is comprised of one member from every department, had the authority to make the final decision on the schedule regardless of the election results.
Currently high school teachers are working under a “straight A block” schedule in which students have four 90-minute blocks of classes each day for the whole semester.
This schedule allows students to receive a whole year’s worth of instruction in four subjects in the Fall semester and then switch to a whole new set of subjects the following semester. Hopmeier said this was the third year the school has used this type of schedule.
With the change, teachers will be working under an “A/B block.” Teachers will still have a four-class day; however, students will be taught eight subjects over the course of two semesters instead of four each semester. Hopmeier said blocks will alternate every other day in two-week cycles. For example, students would have the same four classes Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and another set of four classes on Tuesday and Thursday. The following week, Hopmeier said the classes that met on Tuesday and Thursday would meet on Monday, Wednesday and Friday and vice versa.
Sixty-one percent of the teachers voted to keep an A-block schedule or a slightly modified version, according to the school’s tally of votes. The remaining 39 percent of teachers voted for the an A/B-block, or a modified version, according to the school’s tally.
“It’s what’s best for the students,” math teacher and advisory team member Brian Every said in defending the team’s decision.
Every said the main reason for making the change to an A/B block was to better prepare students for the short-cycle tests. Every said short-cycle assessments are supposed to be administered to students three times throughout the school year.
These tests are used by schools to predict how a student will perform on their annual standardized tests and help find areas where students need improvement.
Every said using an A block schedule doesn’t allow the teacher enough time to evaluate a student’s short-cycle testing results.
“By going to A/B block, we have students all year long,” Every said.
Agriculture teacher Jose Lucero said he had no problem with the A/B block, but he did question why the vote was discounted.
“We were a little upset,” Lucero said. “Why did we vote?”
Sophomore English teacher Rebecca Caudill, said she prefers the current schedule because the longer class time allows her class to study novels on a daily basis. Caudill also said teachers have been spending the past few years fine-tuning this type of class schedule.
“We just got all the kinks ironed out,” Caudill said.