District 300 schedule change would add time and teachers

A plan to reorganize high school schedules in Community Unit District 300 would add up to 60 hours of instruction per year and require more teachers, district leaders said.

Administrators are proposing an 8-period, two-semester, moving away from the current four-class, four term year the district adopted 15 years ago. The new schedule, once approved, would be effective in the 2012-2013 school year.

Ben Churchill, assistant superintendent for high school teaching and learning, said freshmen and sophomores will take one less academic class than they currently do and add a 45-minute homeroom period or extended learning time.

Upperclassmen may elect to take an additional academic class during that time.

“It allows us to intervene with struggling students and also provide accelerated learning opportunities,” Churchill said.

The proposed schedule will also add up to 7½ hours of instructional time per class, per year. The number of students teachers oversee each semester will increase, but Churchill said loads are in line with what middle school teachers currently see.

“For students taking eight classes per day, that represents 3,600 additional minutes of instruction per year, or 60 hours,” Churchill said. “This is a return to the original number of minutes when the block schedule was introduced.”

In addition, math, science, social studies, English and world language teachers will teach five instead of six classes per day, making room for the advisory or extended learning time. Superintendent Michael Bregy said districts are eliminating the study hall model that parents and teachers may have had growing up.

“Instead of supervising that big study hall, why not support a writing support center or math support center so that that student actually has the opportunity to get directed instruction from a certified staff member instead of sitting in those huge study halls?” Bregy said.

With core and world language teachers picking up an advisory period for freshmen and sophomores, the change will also require between 7½ and 13½ new teachers to fill up to 80 sections across the district’s three high schools, Churchill said. The hiring of new teachers is estimated to cost the district between $425,000 and $769,000.

“It may cost us a little more, and we know there is a fight in front of us, we know where the money is and we are going to get it because this is what’s best for our kids,” said Bregy, referring to the proposed extension of tax breaks for Hoffman Estates-based Sears that the district is fighting to block. “We are not reinventing the wheel here ... We are looking at the most successful and progressive schools out there.”

The district also has budgeted for $75,000 in professional development during the current fiscal year to prepare teachers for the changes.

A public forum for parents and community members is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Monday, Sept. 19, at Jacobs High School, 2601 Bunker Hill Drive, Algonquin. A final decision is expected at the Sept. 26 board of education meeting.