5 days a week, 7 classes a day….

commenting on Elizabeth’s recycling post. I agree it a good idea, it is an idea that costs money and the money needs to go to teaching. That is the business of a school, not recycling. Remember global warming is not proven.

I’m sure the idea has been brought to your attention of having more recycle bins around the school, but I don’t think it has been stressed enough. It would be awesome if somehow you could get recycling bins in the lunch rooms for plastic and such or at least have one for paper in every classroom. It’s impossible to find a place to recycle my paper and when I DO find a classroom that has a bin, I had already been carrying my paper around all day. In many social studies classes, global warming has become a point of discussion, and I feel we should influence recycling even if people don’t believe in or care about the idea of global warming.

Your first question is concerning “restrictive flexibility” with SLC’s. The actuality is that the only restrictions we have are the same with any instructional model. Classes are assigned based on seniority and need. Seniors and students who need a class for graduation receive priority and then it’s by order of request. The only other time a student may have difficulty receiving a class is if the student has requested two classes that are singletons (the class is offered at only one time) and they are scheduled during the same period. Sometimes this is unavoidable. We do have plans to expand classes to reduce the number of singletons for next year so that this occurs with less frequency. SLC’s allow for core teachers to have common plans so that they may meet as well as have control of the schedules of their common students.

Your next question is in regards to an advisory period during next year’s schedule. The actual schedule only has an advisory period for 1 day per week so there is not a high frequency of this class meeting. This schedule with the advisory has yet to be reviewed by the Instructional Leadership Team.

Your final question is in regards to the “old” school schedule. All of the high school principals as well as the district administration worked on a common schedule for the past 4 months, researching schedules across the country as well as research based publications. The final schedule that was selected represents the culmination of best instructional practice in a schedule that is research based. There are many pros and cons to any schedule that could have been chosen and this schedule had the most pros associated with it.

I understand the concept of Small Learning Communities (SLC) but feel this is very restrictive of the flexibility a school can and needs to have when dealing with so many students with differing levels of capabilities and goals.

I understand that the 2008-2009 schedule will include 8 class periods alternating 4 & 4 ever day and ever week. This schedule also includes an advisory period. What is the benefit of having a high frequency of the advisory class periods?

Why can’t/won’t APS HHS go back to a “old school” schedule of 7 periods / 5 days a week?