New schedules next year for parish middle and high schools

St. Mary Parish public middle and high school students will be on a different kind of schedule when they return to school next year. The goal is to improve academic performance while saving money.
At a special meeting Tuesday in Centerville, the school board decided to establish a seven-period day for high schools, and, for parish middle schools, it eliminated a “teaming” period used for collaboration among teachers.
High schools currently use a “4 by 4” system. Students take four courses in the fall semester and then change to a different four courses for the spring semester.
Beginning next year, high schools will go the more traditional seven-period day.
Currently, said Assistant Superintendent Teresa Bagwell, students are offered 32 “course opportunities” — the chance to take a credit course — over their four-year high school careers. They can pick up another one to four high school credits during middle school.
Students are required to earn 24 credits for a TOPS-university diploma from their high school and 23 credits for the technical- and career-oriented Jump Start diploma.
Under the new system, they’ll stay in the same classes in the same 50-minute periods all year. The students will have 28 course opportunities, still enough to get the credits they need. And they’ll continue to be able to earn up to four high school credits in middle school.
State educational standards are changing to define proficiency as scoring “mastery” on standardized tests rather than “basic,” as has been the case. The seven-period day will add another 1,200 instructional minutes to each course, Bagwell said.
In middle school, students attend on an eight-period schedule. Each teacher has one period for individual preparation and another period for collaboration with other teachers in their grade group.
Under the new schedule, the teaming period will be eliminated, adding another period of face-to-face instructional time to the schedule, Bagwell said.
In addition to the educational benefits, the schedule changes will save the school system more than $1 million each year.
That’s an important consideration for the school board. Members learned earlier this spring that they must find another $3 million to put the budget in balance by the end of the fiscal year July 1.
About two-thirds of the shortfall resulted from a drop in property tax revenue and a reduction in state Minimum Foundation Program funding. The MFP funding is based in part on enrollment, which is declining in St. Mary, and on each school system’s contribution toward its own finances.
“Throughout the state,” Bagwell said, “an increasing number of districts have adopted a traditional year-long high school schedule including Lafourche, Terrebonne and Vermilion parishes, while maintaining significant academic progress.
“In the end, the district seeks to maximize instructional funding and retain course options for students as they pursue on-time graduation and transition beyond high school.”