SC to re-examine class scheduling

By David Montgomery
Capital Journal staff
Published/Last Modified on Tuesday, Feb 09, 2010 - 12:40:41 am CST

FORT PIERRE — The Stanley County School District is considering making a big change to its schedule in the next several years — but not the one people might expect.

School officials are considering dropping not the four-day school week adopted two years ago, but the block scheduling adopted more than a decade ago.

In block scheduling, students don’t go to every class every day, but instead go to a few of their classes for longer periods of time.

Administrators met on Jan. 29 with school board members and student leaders to discuss sticking with the block schedule, and decided to give it at least one more year to observe how the block schedule and the four-day week interact.

“We do not feel that we’re giving, with the four-day week, the block schedule as good a try as we could,” said superintendent Don Hotalling at Monday’s school board meeting. “If we have a couple years of data, I think we’ll have a little bit more to draw on.”

Hotalling said Stanley County is the only district in the state that uses both a four-day school week and a block schedule.

A community survey being sent to parents in the next month will ask parents their thoughts about the block schedule.

The school has asked high school students their opinions, and Hotalling said the majority of students support it.

But board member Tina Titze said the board should consider student input but not rely on it.

“Being a student not too long ago myself, sometimes the easiest route is what they’ll choose, if there’s a lot of downtime where they can goof off,” Titze said. “I would hate for them to pick that because it’s the easy route.”

Hotalling said there is support for both the block schedule and a standard schedule among administrators and faculty.

Any decision about changing the next year’s schedule would need to be made by around January of each year, Hotalling said.

As school officials debate the block schedule, Hotalling said the administration also is working to make it more efficient.

“We know we have some wasted time in some of those long periods,” Hotalling said. “We need to encourage our staff and students to use that time more effectively.”

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Comments

6 comment(s)

thanks wrote on Feb 11, 2010 10:19 AM:

" Thank you Capital Journal "Spell Check" boss for letting us know how smart you is, otherwise the point we're trying to make just don't make no sense. As far as the 2 week Christmas break..I think SC is trying to end it's Semester before X-Mas. That also makes the most sense. "

riggs wrote on Feb 10, 2010 11:09 PM:

" Move to Pierre, and to "spell check" that is why the big push to end semesters at the x-mas break, even Huron who wanted everyone to start late is done with there semester at x-mas break, retention is the main reason...Have you noticed your test scores have dropped since the 4 day week? Please check out the SD web sight at the Dept of Ed....This is the right step, now one more step to the 5 day week... "

however wrote on Feb 10, 2010 6:52 PM:

" with block scheduling why is there ever homework? Teach for part of the class, do the assignment in class, where they are able to get immediate help from the teacher. "

riverdawg wrote on Feb 10, 2010 6:57 AM:

" I think a decision to go to a standard schedule makes the most sense, student-teacher contact needs to be on a daily basis, not hit and miss. Having both a block schedule and a 4 day week do not work well together, but either by itself is more workable. Students have too much non-academic time, and if time were better spent in class there would be less homework, not more. "

spell check wrote on Feb 9, 2010 11:40 PM:

" Ridiculous. This word is spelled incorrectly on almost every blog. This word has no "E" in it at all. If you are going to use a word (especially if you are trying to make a point about schools, schooling, or education in general), please spell the words correctly! As far as your gap goes...I suppose kids have no recall over the two week Christmas break either? "

Think about it wrote on Feb 9, 2010 10:11 AM:

" Why do you think Stanley County is the only school in the state (along with Clear Lake) that has a 4-day school week & block schedule? Answer: Because it's rediculous! School board and administration keep putting off this decision because they don't won't to ruffle any community feathers.....even though it's the right thing to do...if it's for a better quality education for the kids. A 5 day learning gap over the weekend...seriously! "

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