Lake City Students To Learn Block By Block Teachers Praise Scheduling Plan’s Ability To Increase Depth Of Learning

Lake City High School teachers overwhelmingly support a new schedule they say would boost instruction time and increase the number of courses students can take over four years.

The block schedule - which lengthens the school day by five minutes - would enroll students in four, 88-minute classes one day, alternating to a different four the following day. Students would have one 30-minute lunch break and would take eight classes per semester, compared to six now.

The plan would increase depth of learning, Coeur d’Alene School Superintendent David Rawls said, praising the schedule for “adding rigor and relevance to the curriculum.”

High schools in Missoula and Spokane have embraced block scheduling because it provides longer, uninterrupted class periods, said Lake City Principal John Brumley.

“The data shows there are fewer interruptions, less tardies, less discipline problems,” Brumley said. “… but more condensed time to finish project work and broaden the depth of what you are offering.”

Teachers voted 54-14 last week to embrace the AB Rollover Block Schedule. A public forum on the one-year pilot plan is scheduled for Wednesday at 7 p.m. in the Lake City auditorium.

The 80 percent of teachers who voted in favor also agreed to add a course to their current workload, increasing the number of students they see over two days from 160 to 180.

That would allow the school to add up to 25 new courses, including several that would reduce class size for freshman core courses.

Teachers are submitting lists of additional elective classes they could teach if the schedule is approved - from poetry and Shakespearean literature to Web mastering, world religions and plant biology.

To accomplish the same increase in sections under the traditional schedule, the school would need 12 new teachers at an estimated cost of $480,000, Brumley said.

Wednesday’s forum follows 2-1/2 years of research on alternative schedules.

Students and business leaders will be asked for their input on the proposed change before Lake City officials present the idea to the school board on Feb. 23.

If successful, the one-year pilot program could be expanded to Coeur d’Alene High School, as well.

, DataTimes MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: FORUM A public forum on the one-year pilot plan for block scheduling is scheduled for Wednesday at 7 p.m. in the Lake City auditorium.