Wv High To Adjust School Day

West Valley High School will be adjusting its school day next fall.

The most noticeable change for many students is that the school day will start half an hour later, at 8 a.m. West Valley High classes currently start at 7:30 a.m.

The school day will also move from a seven-period schedule to six periods, with an optional zero hour. Zero hour will start at 7 a.m. That hour can be used by students who want to clear the rest of their day for other classes. Band, for instance, might be scheduled as a zero hour class.

The schedule changes won’t necessarily mean much difference in the length of classes. Regular classes may grow by just a few minutes, from 53 to 55 minutes.

Teachers will still have the freedom to work in some block classes, said Superintendent Dave Smith. Currently at West Valley High, each class meets in a 1 hour-and 45-minute block once every other week.

The changes are being driven by economics, Smith said.

Under this year’s schedule, teachers teach five out of the seven periods. One period is preparation time. The other period currently is used for collaboration among teachers, or other duties such as monitoring halls.

But the state pays for teachers’ salaries, based on an expectation that teachers will teach six periods out of seven, rather than five.

“Education reform runs into economic reality,” said West Valley High Principal Cleve Penberthy.

Now, what is the idea of collaboration about?

“You can’t make the changes that teachers are asked to do today, without time for professional growth, time for collaboration within departments and between departments,” Penberthy said.

By change, he’s referring to the essential learnings and Washington Student Assessment of Learning tests that are part of the state’s education reform.

Collaboration will continue under the new schedule. But it will move to the beginning of the day, Smith said. Although most classes won’t start until 8 a.m., teachers will be expected at school well before that.

Under state law, teachers must be available half an hour before and after the school day.

Under West Valley’s teacher contract, teachers must work 7.5 hours out of an 8-hour day.

In addition, the new schedule will make available 19 minutes a day, Smith said.

“I can tell you that if the West Valley district tries to make teachers work half an hour longer, there will be an uproar,” said Trey Yale, the teacher who is head of the West Valley teachers’ union.

“We’re not asking teachers to work longer. We’re just putting those 19 minutes on the front side of the day,” Smith said. “We’ve got a lot of work to do here.”

That time will be part of collaboration, at the start of the school day. The actual collaboration schedule will depend on the wishes of each department head, Smith said.

Smith also wants to change the role of department heads, giving them more authority, perhaps more pay and less teaching time.

He said he hopes to have those changes in place as soon as next fall, so that department heads can lead the way through changes that will come with the certificate of mastery.

The class of 2008 must pass the certificate of mastery test as 10th graders in order to graduate.