Administrators and teachers at Johnston High School are continuing discussions about class scheduling ahead of a move to a new building in 2016.
In a report to the school board last week, Principal Brent Riessen outlined several priorities for the high school, including continued discussions about the daily schedule at the school. Currently, regular classes at the high school are taught over eight 45-minute periods, according to the school handbook available online.
On Wednesdays, classes are shortened to 35 minutes to include an advisory period. While some students are easily able to handle eight classes in a day, administrators believe others may benefit from longer spurts of classroom time and fewer classes in a day, Riessen said.
“For some the idea of having eight courses in the day is a wonderful option,” he said. “There’s also a group of kids that having eight classes a day is a lot to handle and a lot to juggle … there’s pros and cons to both of that,” he said.
The topic has been part of discussions over the past two years as the high school prepares to move to its new building, Riessen said. If a new schedule is implemented, the move to the new building in 2016 would be an appropriate time to make the transition, he said.
“We’ve opened up the door to just say, ‘What is the ideal amount of time to have for kids in our classroom?’ ” he said. “We’re searching for that right thing. … If there’s a thing we can do to really impact student achievement, as we look forward to that new building opening, that could be a very ideal time to make some of those changes.”
As a part of the process, a committee has reviewed about six scheduling options, including a block schedule that would have courses generally meeting every other day, Riessen said.
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