Soon after Toledo Public Schools students get used to their class rosters for the new school year, they’ll be asked to weigh-in on a proposed block-scheduling plan that will reformat their current seven-course configuration.
During a district curriculum meeting last week, Jim Gault, the district’s executive transformational leader of curriculum, said surveys will be offered to students and parents in September about plans to switch to what district officials call a “modified block” schedule with some classes lasting 90 minutes while others would keep a roughly 45-minute length.
Administrators don’t yet have a full version of the plan to present, he said, but expect to finalize that by mid-to-late September. That will allow high school students time to acclimate to the new school year — which begins Monday for first through ninth graders, Tuesday for high-school sophomores, and Wednesday for juniors and seniors — before asking their opinions about mixing things up schedule-wise.
“Now many of them will not have experience with block [scheduling] because it’s been gone for quite some time,” he said. “And so in essence, they’re going to be talking about having more time [for class] content, less transition, and how they feel about 90-minute periods versus 47.
“Also, when we had block scheduling last time, there were additional credit requirements that kids were responsible for because they were taking eight classes now instead of seven,” Mr. Gault added. “So we up the credit requirements as well too. So we'll talk to them about that, what do they think about that, et cetera.”
Chris Varwig, a school board member and curriculum committee co-chairman, said longer class periods would provide more time for those in core subjects as well as electives to review their material without feeling rushed. But parent and student input will be important in determining what the final block scheduling plan looks like, she added.
“We want to make sure that we're giving a broad array of opportunity to comment on this, and I really am interested to hear from the students’ perspective,” she said.
District officials are considering two variations of the modified block schedule. The first features the 90-minute core-class periods and the roughly 45 minutes for others. The alternative includes 45-minute class schedule three times a week while the other two days would break up those classes into an alternating block schedule — with four of their 90-minute classes on one day and the remaining four the next.
Mr. Gault said he would like for the Toledo Board of Education to approve a block-scheduling plan sometime in December. Officials would then spend the early parts of 2023 preparing to implement the plan next fall.
“Blocked [scheduling] traditionally requires more staff, so with staff shortages all across the country, that's a concern,” he said. “Prep and planning time [for teachers] for the longer classes are also things we're trying to work through.
“I really would like it done by the flip of the calendar year because we've got to go out and recruit, which will be the end of December,” he added. “And that's when we start going out talking to our students, getting their choice cards about what courses they want to take for when we’re building our master schedule.”
First Published August 22, 2022, 1:00 p.m.
