First look at Dist. 300 schedule changes

Stakeholders in Community Unit District 300 got the first glimpse of proposed changes to secondary school schedules — a central element in a controversial plan to save the district millions of dollars.

Incoming Superintendent Michael Bregy and members of the newly created leadership team presented the first of three options for reorganizing the school day at the middle and high school levels Monday night.

The district is attempting to overcome an $8.3 million deficit in the 2011-12 school year.

Bregy said the first option will provide the highest number of cuts and the greatest savings for the district, while the remaining options are cost-neutral or may cost more to run.

“Kids today are different to kids 15 years ago,” said Bregy, referring to the last time the district implemented broad changes when it introduced block scheduling in 1996. “This (financial challenge) gives us the opportunity to look at ‘what are we doing for our students,’ and to see if there are any alternative options out there to improve the quality of our education.”

Under the plan presented Monday, the middle school would move to an eight-period day from the current nine-period schedule. Kara Vicente, associate superintendent of teaching and learning for middle schools, said the reduced schedule would eliminate some popular programs.

“A significant difference would be the elimination of the exploratory programs, AVID and year-round Spanish,” said Vicente, who added the new schedule would result in increased core classes.

At the high school level, the first option would implement a three-by-four block schedule — or 12 blocks per year. The change would eliminate the daily advisory period — or homeroom — but would not eliminate electives, said Ben Churchill, associate superintendent for teaching and learning for high schools.

“It doesn’t take courses out of the course catalog. We will drive electives based on student requests,” Churchill said.

Last month, the district approved $3.1 million in staff and program reductions and is now hoping for $5.2 million in wage and benefit concessions from the teachers union. At a subsequent meeting, the school board voted 4-3 to lay off 363 teachers and administrators to allow for a proposed reorganization. The district expects the final reduction in force to be between 75 and 150 teachers based on the first option and save the district between $4.3 million and $8.2 million.

Graduation requirements, which were of concern to students and parents during heated special meetings last month, have not been determined. In a comparison, administrators said the total credits required for graduation could be reduced from 26 to 22.

Administrators will present additional high school options at the April 25 meeting. Those options include a traditional seven- or eight-period day, or a modified block schedule in high school and a modified eight-period day or middle school hybrid in middle schools.