Monticello School Board Hears “Block Schedule and ABC” Discussion Summary
February 20th, 2013 by Joe BurgessHigh School principal Jim Lucas led the Monticello School board through a powerpoint presentation, Tuesday night, explaining the upcoming changes to the Common Core State Standards and PARCC (Partnership for the Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers).
Lucas included the “Pros and Cons” of the potential change, and showed the actual schedules for weeklyclasses.
Under the ABC Modified Block schedule, the 4 day of the week would still be “Block”, and students would have all of their classes on Friday, just in a shorter time period.
Superintendent Bobby Harper and Board President Hani Hashem spoke before the program, explaining that the presentation for just for informational purposed, and that no decision would be made at the meeting.
Choose another article
Newer article: Marshall Wigley
Older article: MES Principal Tish Thomas Retiring at End of School Year
I’m glad that he’s trying to make our school better and I appreciate all he does! As a ninth grader I planned out my highschool career based on block scheduling. If this ABC scheduling goes in to action my senior year will not be as planned and this means the honors course I am on will not be met. Yes, he’s in the school with us everyday but he’s not home every night studying for 4 test! For an AP student this is going to be incredibly hard. 7 test? 4-5 being AP! There is no way! I understand that we are a focus school and we are below standards. But if we can’t pass with four classes them we sure can’t pass with seven. This is setting us up for failure. The drop out rate will increase, The grades will decrease, and the kids will be nothing but stressed. Why fix things that aren’t broken.
I’m glad that my child is a senior this year cause if this happens my child would not have the grades he has now. As the student of MHS said the AP students will have a hard time in meeting there plans.My child has had AP classes for the last 3 years an if he had to take 7 classes on Friday then he may not have passed some of his class.
Why MUST things change next year? We don’t have to do this. The students will be harmed the most because they have graduation plans in place- from the AP Honor students to the students who are trying to recover from failing grades. It sounds like both will be harmed. The 4 X 4 is the schedule that serves our community of students best. College courses won’t fit this proposed change. I find the gloom and doom attitude of expected failure shocking, especially with all of the “unknown” factors and unanswered questions.
I hope our school board is wise enough to see that our students do experience success with the current schedule. It is clear that we are a Focus school because most of our kids keep raising their scores. Focus — on the students who are not succeeding. Focus on making a difference in their lives. Don’t change the schedule to serve a few when it works for the majority. Consider another approach that doesn’t cause harm to others.
I trust that our school board will not change the schedule next year. This type of decision needs thorough discussion and trouble-shooting. We should take at least one year to fully look at the impacts of this kind of change. Let’s take the new test and then decide based on the outcome of the test. Why change if we can be successful with our current schedule? It is the schedule that works best for our community of students.
The changes being made are utterly unjustified. We are currently one of the top rated schools in the South Eastern part of this state. We have some of the highest AP scores in this state. I see no viable reason to change something that has made this happen. I believe that what we have must be maintain. I have discussed this with some of my teachers. They feel that this will hurt the students who push themselves for AP courses already. AP is hard work when that work comes all at once a student will fail because of the excess stress that it entails. Concurrent credit with college classes would not work because you would only have that class twice a week rather than the required time by the professor. Most students I have talked to disagree with this move. Some have said they will be home schooled or even move well away from this school. This move is based on a test that does not exist yet-or may never exist. This feckless, droll idea can only lead the student to more plights, thus leading them to failure. We must censure this flawed idea.
I think this is not in the interest of the students. I will guarantee more students will fail with this schedule change. Just because you are new to a school district does not mean you must bring new things with you. I think things are working the way they are.