Tentative Daily Bell Schedules for 9-12 Site

Original Tentative Schedule

This column has the original tentative daily bell schedule for BHS when it expands to serve grades 9-12. You can click the image below to view the schedule, but there is also a printable PDF file attached to this post.

Alternative Schedule with a Freshman Advisory Period

Different Number of Periods and Passing Periods

The new bell system will allow the site to have different class periods and passing periods in the different areas of campus.

• The Freshman Academy will be on a 7-period day schedule with 50-55 minute classes and 5-minute passing periods.

• Grades 10-12 will have a 6-period day schedule with 54 minute classes and 6-minute passing periods to allow students more time to travel from science classes at the north end of the campus to fine arts classes at the south end. Grades 10-12 also have a tutorial period before lunch built into the schedule; details on tutorials are given at the end of this post.

• The Bruin Academy alternative education program will be housed entirely on the middle level of Custer Stadium and have an 8-period day schedule with 44-46 minute classes and 3 minute passing periods, plus one 10-minute passing period to facilitate its Claw Mart program.

Crossovers To/From Freshman Academy

The schedules are designed to overlap on most periods to allow crossovers between Freshman Academy classrooms and other classrooms for band, choir, orchestra, athletics, some electives, and possibly some math and foreign language courses. Four periods, out of 7 in grade 9 and out of 6 in grades 10-12, will allow travel to/from Freshman Academy classrooms. These are the first three periods and final period of the day. The next-to-last daily period also allows 10-12th grade students to attend classes in the freshman academy classrooms, but not vice versa.

Separate Lunches for 9th, 10th-12th, and Alternative/Disciplinary Programs

• The Freshman Academy 30-minute lunch is on-campus and is separate from the lunch period for grades 10-12.

• Grades 10-12 have a built-in tutorial period before their 35-minute lunch, which converts into an extended lunch period if a student is not in tutorial. Juniors and seniors may leave campus for lunch; a decision is pending on if and when that privilege would be extended to sophomores.

• A third separate on-campus 30-minute lunch period is for students in the alternative programs: Bruin Academy, Bruin Brilliance, PASS, and Back-on-Track.

Expanded Work and Instructional Day

The district increased teacher salaries in 2013-2014 to expand the teacher work day by 5 minutes, and paid for another 5 minutes in 2014-2015. The start and stop times in the tentative schedule presume a final 5-minute increase will be paid for in 2015-2016 to allow for a 7.5 hour teacher work day from 7:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. The instructional day would run from 7:50 a.m. to 2:50 p.m. The schedule also presumes an altered district bus schedule.

Tutorials in Grades 10-12

The tutorial period for grades 10-12 is right before lunch and follows the existing BHS tutorial procedures outlined below. The longer instructional day will allow the length of the tutorial to expand from the current 20 minutes to 30 minutes, while allowing the remaining lunch period to expand from 30 minutes to 35 minutes.

On Mondays and Wednesdays tutorials are held in Language Arts, Science, Business, and Foreign Language. On Tuesdays and Thursdays tutorials are held in Mathematics, Social Studies, and Fine Arts. Friday tutorial periods may be used for faculty and club meetings or for an extended lunch. So a teacher conducts his or her tutorials twice per week, with an extended lunch on the remaining days.

There are three ways a student winds up in a tutorial period:

• Students who are failing a grade 10-12 class are required to attend its tutorial periods; if the student is failing two or more classes which share a tutorial day, those teachers alternate assigned tutorial days with that student.

• Teachers can assign students to a tutorial on their scheduled subject days as needed for make-up work and extra help.

• Students may choose to come to tutorial on the scheduled subject days for extra help.

Teachers may sign a students' agenda or use a sign-in sheet to track student attendance at tutorials and handle scheduling conflicts. After each tutorial, teachers send an email to the attendance secretary with an alphabetized list of the students who were present at tutorial and any students who should have attended but failed to appear. Administrators conference with and, if necessary, withdraw privileges from or discipline students who miss required tutorials.

An alternative schedule was drafted that would provide a 17-minute Advisory period in Freshman Academy. You can click the image at right to view it or view a printable PDF file.

Freshman Advisory would fall between 4th and 5th periods, overlapping with the 10-12 tutorial period. Freshmen would be assigned to a Freshman Academy teacher's classroom during this period, with pull-outs for tutorials and clubs/activities, with tutorial pull-outs taking priority. Friday advisories could be devoted to mentoring and/or clubs and activities. (Passing periods before and after the Advisory can be reduced to 4 minutes since there are no crossovers in 4th and 5th periods.)

Advantages:

• • Same tutorial days and procedure as in grades 10-12, so students in crossover classes could attend tutorials for those classes.

  • Overlap with 10-12 tutorial means upperclassmen could serve as mentors for freshmen and still have 44 minutes for lunch afterward. (Leadership class students are obvious candidates.)

  • Overlap with 10-12 tutorial means the gymnasiums would be free for freshman clubs and activities, or 9-12 clubs and activities.

Disadvantage:

• • Freshman classes now vary in length from 55 minutes in periods 1, 2, and 7 to 45 minutes in periods 3, 4, 5, and 6.