By Melanie Patterson

The North Jefferson News



Most local principals seem pleased with a major change voted in Tuesday by the Jefferson County Board of Education.

Beginning next school year, JeffCo BOE high schools and middle schools will no longer operate under the current block scheduling system.

The BOE has adopted for high schools an alternate block system that will allow students to take the same classes all year rather than for half the year.

Under the current system, there are four 96-minute classes every day. Students take four classes the first semester and a different four classes the second semester.

The new block system will still have four classes a day, but students will alternate the same eight classes for the entire school year.

Dr. Jerry Mitchell, JeffCo BOE deputy superintendent for instructional services, said the BOE will work with teachers and principals to iron out the details. There are a couple of options being considered, he said.

“The most important thing is that high-school students will be taking all four core classes every day, all year – history, math, science and English,” said JeffCo BOE member Karen Smith Nix.

Mortimer Jordan High School principal Dr. Byron Campbell likes that idea.

“We think that it has some significant advantages,” said Campbell of the new system. “It appears from all we can find out that math students in particular will benefit from being in math class all year. It just takes time for those skills to become permanent.”

Campbell added that he’s glad the BOE didn’t go back to the traditional seven-period day, which meant much shorter classes every day.

“Now we can do an extended day and have exposure to classes all year long,” he said.

Corner High School principal Ronald Cooper remembers those traditional shorter classes from his days as a teacher.

“When we really got into the meat of the discussion, the bell would ring,” he said.

He likes the longer classes under the block system so students and teachers get more time in labs and other classes. But he said the alternating system will be better so students take the same classes all year.

“It looks like there will be a lot of good opportunities out of the new modified system,” he said. “We want what will best fit the students and what will help them succeed. We want to help them get the most out of their educational opportunities.”

The BOE has been discussing changing the current block system for several years, according to Nix.

She said the BOE set up a committee about two years ago to look at the issue. The committee is headed up by Mitchell and consists of BOE staff, high-school principals, representatives from math and science departments, counselors, teachers and others.

“We wanted to get everyone’s perspective,” Nix said. “The main driving force behind the committee was to look at test scores and how our students compete with other schools in the county, the state, the southeast, etc.”

With the current system, students take graduation exams and other tests at the end of the year, even though they took some core classes months earlier during the first semester.

Mitchell said that test scores in the JeffCo system had hit a plateau, but then dipped last year. He expects the modified block system to help increase scores.

According to Nix, the alternating block is the most common block system in high schools now.

As far as cost, Nix said the school board will have to buy more textbooks for next year. Currently, half of a school’s students take a class in the first semester and half take the same class the second semester, meaning they can share books.

Now each student will need his or her own book for the whole year.

The BOE estimates that buying new textbooks will cost about $1 million, Nix said.

She added that the new system will not cause the BOE to need additional teachers or staff, however.

The committee was particularly concerned about next year’s high-school seniors.

“We are making sure no (current) juniors are affected,” said Nix. “We will work out individual plans for juniors next year if it is necessary. No one will fall through the cracks. No one will be harmed by this change.”

Mitchell said that middle schools will do away with the block schedule altogether.

“The block schedule, even the alternate block schedule, is not one we should use in middle schools,” said Mitchell. “We feel like we’ve been doing them a disservice by putting them in math and science for only half a year.”

He said that middle schools would likely go back to the traditional seven classes a day.