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Mountain View’s public middle schools may be getting new bell schedules next school year, in an effort to give more time for each class and carve out space for a weekly advisory period. Doing so would mean dropping a class period, shrinking the number of electives most students can take.
The Mountain View Whisman School District has convened a committee to review options for Graham and Crittenden middle schools, with the idea that a new schedule would take effect this fall.
The committee is currently leaning towards a schedule that would cut back the current eight-period system to seven, according to a presentation Superintendent Ayindé Rudolph gave to the school board at a Thursday, March 14, meeting.
That would give more time for each class while maintaining the same daily start and end times. School currently begins at 8:25 a.m. every day and ends at 3:20 p.m. each day except Thursday, when classes let out at 2:28 p.m.
The change would mean that most students would take two electives at once, rather than three. It would also add a weekly advisory period, during which counselors could provide lessons on social-emotional topics and teachers could check in with their students.
Rudolph presented three schedule options to the board, all of which used a seven-period model with a weekly advisory class, but differed in which classes met each day.
Of the three choices, he said that the committee favored one where students would attend all seven classes on Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays. There would be longer, block periods on Wednesdays and Thursdays, with students attending their odd-numbered classes on Wednesdays and even-numbered classes on Thursdays.
Currently, the middle schools use an eight-period “cascading” schedule. Students attend all eight classes on Mondays, followed by six classes on each of the other four days, with a different two classes dropped each day.
The board was broadly supportive of the option that Rudolph said the committee preferred.
The committee is currently getting feedback on the potential schedule change from teachers, students and parents. It will bring a proposal back to the school board for guidance at a future meeting, district spokesperson Shelly Hausman told the Voice.
The current proposal is a prototype and adjustments could still be made, Hausman added.
Building in more time for each class
Under the new schedule, each period would be 48 minutes long on the three seven-period days, and around 85 minutes on the two block days, though there’s some variation between block periods.
Currently, classes are generally 41 minutes on Mondays when all eight periods meet; 56 minutes on Tuesdays, Wednesday and Fridays when six periods meet; and 48 minutes on Thursdays when six periods meet with an earlier dismissal time. There is again some variation within those times.
The new schedule would also have a 37 minute advisory period on Thursdays. Chief Human Relations Officer Tara Vikjord told the Voice that teachers and district staff believe this time will be very important to help address students’ needs.
“I hope that the advisory period … helps every child with their own social-emotional wellbeing and that it allows all children to enjoy school,” Vikjord said.
It would also give teachers time to have students complete items like surveys without missing out on class time, Vikjord said.
Changes to electives
Switching from eight to seven periods each day would impact the number of electives that students can take. Students typically have five core classes: English, math, social studies, science and PE. That means most students currently have space for three electives. Under the new system, there would be room for two.
Some students are enrolled in additional classes, which reduces the number of electives they can choose. These include students who are learning English and take an English Language Development (ELD) class, as well as some students with disabilities who take an instructional support class.
One of the district’s big goals with the schedule shift is to make sure that these students still get to pick at least one elective, even with one fewer period.
The district has had a seven-period schedule in the past, but moved to the eight-period cascading model in 2018 because of concerns over elective choice. Students enrolled in both ELD and instructional support didn’t have room for any electives on top of their five core classes.
If the district goes back to a seven-period day, the idea is to create a new combined class for students who are both learning English and require instructional support, making it into a single period that would leave space for an elective.
While the design is still being worked out, the idea is to have a course that is co-taught by both an ELD and special education teacher, Vikjord said.
“We’re really supporting language skills and individualized strategies that the kids need, to really, truly help them access the content in their general courses in a much more structured and strategic fashion,” Vikjord said.
According to Vikjord, roughly two dozen students across both middle schools are currently taking both an ELD and instructional support class.
Another change in the proposed schedule is that the mid-morning break would increase from 13 to 15 minutes. That would give students who get breakfast at school a bit more time to eat, Vikjord said.
An entire article about this issue and no students or parents were interviewed and there was no mention of the fact that students at both middle schools have started petitions to oppose the loss of their electives.
If the intent is to encourage high-performing students and students who really want to use middle school to explore different things to look elsewhere for their education, this looks like a great proposal. Please talk to parents. If a child needs additional academic time, encourage them to take Study Skills as an elective, which is already an option. Need more class time? Consider dropping the early dismissal on Thursday.
I don’t see who wins with this plan (except possibly the school budget, since there will be fewer electives). High achieving students loose out on enrichment activities. Students who need English language development and instructional support now have both services crammed into a single class period. Teachers loose out on their flexible prep time and have to try to keep the attention of 12 year olds for 85 minutes. As any parent of a 12 year old can tell you – good luck with that!
A big portion of parents and most of students don’t agree with the change.
The communication from the district has been terrible, not only to parents and students but also to teachers; most of them found out at the same time as everyone else, they were not even consulted.
Electives are one of the reasons kids love middle school. They shape them and give them a sense of belonging. Electives play the biggest role in social emotional learning. They are the place where they meet likeminded friends.
Reducing electives to 1 or 2 is a big mistake, especially for kids that need support and are forced to use elective time to get academic support.
Having 11 to 13 years old sitting for 85 minutes is also a mistake. They don’t need to mirror high school schedules at middle school, kids will have high school schedules when they are in high school, and they will get used to it, just like they get used to change in schedule when they go from middle to elementary school.
Please MV Voice, get parents and students perspective and rewrite this article!
The school district did not consult with ANY parents or students in coming up with this proposal, and now they are trying to force it through, despite overwhelming opposition from students and their parents. Students and parents are extremely upset about the elimination of an elective class and the institution of 85-minute class periods, but the district does not seem to care. Why isn’t the school district listening to the very people that they are supposed to serve?
Ayindé Rudolph had a trainwreck Zoom tonight with about 250 attendees on April 1st:
– Repeatedly told the audience that there would be no vote or alternative, and basically said the decision was already done. Was only interested in hearing minor tweaks to make the plan happen.
– The gist behind all of this is actually to ram in the Social Emotional Learning (SEL) weekly class into every student, which is really a course to deal with the behavioral issues of a couple students who require disciplinary action. SEL is a national program to promote Equity but comes at the expense of cutting electives classes for students.
– Multiple students chimed in. Over 700 middle school signatures have been collected in a petition opposing this. It was also confirmed that administrators only asked 1-2 small student classes about this big change.
– Multiple parents chimed in. That this was rushed, no notice given until just a week ago. That art and music were critical for learning and student enjoyment, and that parents would pull kids from MVWSD as a result. Also this was falsely framed as asking for input when this was actually a done decision with only minor tweaks to make this plan happen. Also that this came in very late just as elective course selection was to take place.
This has been Rudolph’s MO since he’s been here…poor transparency and communication and a long history of ramming in poorly planned major changes that cater to the lowest common denominator, at the expense of quality or choice.
Tonight – April 1st – meeting was par for the course for the current MVWSD school administration. Total lack of clarity on the process – even called out by several students (middle schoolers who were better prepared than the admin!) for the unilateral shift. And, the lede was buried, SEL will be imposed on all children.
I first heard about the proposal a week and a half ago when my 6th grader came home and first raised concerns on the impact to school life. Students were shown a presentation in class. Since then, my child has brought this up on several occasions and has been ruminating on it.
Special needs students with IEP have additional ramifications to their schedules and quality of life, which Rudolph admitted was still being reviewed for solutions. Truly upsetting how this initiative is being fast tracked without due diligence and consideration.
I echo another commenter, calling it “trainwreck” of presentation from Rudolph, board, principals and leadership.
Parents, students, (residents), and Citizen/Voters. U get the type of goverment Oversight that U elect. An administrator keeps on making the same types of mistakes (failing to get/be guided by Community) IMO because of poor Trustee Oversight.
A few Trustees have been particularly remiss in this Oversight. Watch the meeting videos on this – see who is the most ‘clueless’ on what the Community appears to want, and yet most attuned to what the Superintendent ‘proposes’ (or ‘has studied/decided’). The Voice also reports on this dynamic between Trustees and ‘their only direct employee’.
same-old-same-old?
(1) 6th grade Teach 2 One: Math fiasco / well reported by MV Voice
(2) SAVE COOPER PARK .org use of public school land / development?
(3) City Parks / MVW School District half century cooperation dissolved?
(4) /// the latest ///
I was fooled at first by #1 myself back-in-the-day!