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Teachers, students protest scheduling proposal
Class choices for blocks is top concern
BY MELODY GUYTON
STAFF WRITER
Almost three months after a
hybrid block schedule was passed
for Chapel Hill-Carrboro City high
schools, teachers and students
are voicing concerns about which
classes might be affected.
Sherri Martin, director of second
ary education for city schools, said
several concerned teachers have
expressed opposition to the district’s
proposal on which classes should be
blocked sent out in January.
“I thought it would be nice to
have an extra period,” said Alena
Steen, a member of Chapel Hill
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High School’s block scheduling
committee. “But now they’re try
ing to make it totally blocked. They
just have an underhanded way of
going about it.”
English, science, history and
career technical education classes
now are slated to be blocked half
year courses, while Advanced
Placement classes, math, excep
tional education, electives and a
few others will remain yearlong.
Jason Curtis, a physics teacher
at Chapel Hill High, said that set
up is inappropriate, specifically
plans to block physics, a math
based science.
News
“Math is half of my class, and
they’ve said that math is best taught
in the traditional schedule,” he said.
“Learning is best done in small
chunks. Seeing (students) a little
every day is most beneficial,” he
added.
The hybrid schedule designed
as a compromise between the exist
ing schedule of six 50-minute peri
ods and an extra, optional period
before classes start and a four-by
four block schedule was approved
Dec. 16 after much debate.
The schedule will be made up of
seven 50-minute periods. Some of
these periods can be combined to
make 100-minute blocks, lasting
for a semester or a year.
Concerns like Curtis’ have been
at the heart of the opposition, com
ing mostly from Chapel Hill High.
Other concerns included poten
tial loss of class time, complica
tions caused by student absences,
diminished minority achievement,
students’ waning attention spans
and decreased material retention.
Sheila Wilkerson, a Chapel Hill
High chemistry and environmen
tal science teacher, noted that per
forming laboratories will be a chal
lenge with blocked classes.
“We do lots of labs with plants,
and each lab takes about a month,”
she said. “Over 180 days, we can do
it, but over 90 days, we cannot.”
Many students also are against
the schedule change.
Catherine Kastleman, a member
TUESDAY, MARCH 8, 2005
of Chapel Hill High’s block sched
uling committee, said she does not
know of any students who want to
abandon the traditional schedule.
“I’m just worried how students
will function in a class where you just
sit for an hour and a half” she said.
Despite its constituents’ concerns,
Bert Wartski, a science teacher at
Chapel Hill High, said the admin
istration has been unresponsive.
“We’re fighting for what we
believe is right, what will be best
for our students, and they’re calling
us obstructionists,” he said.
But East Chapel Hill High
School teacher Neal Mullis said the
school generally has been accepting
of the new scheduling. “I’m kind of
angry at the teachers at Chapel Hill
High for fighting it.”
The counterproposals now will
be reviewed by content area coor
dinators, who will meet with teach
ers and make a decision in April on
which classes to block.
Superintendent Neil Pedersen,
who maintains that hybrid sched
uling is best for students, seemed
optimistic that the scheduling
debate could change its focus.
“We’re trying to avoid a repeat
of the debate about block schedul
ing,” he said. “We want to move to
discussion about implementation
and fine tuning because a decision
has been made.”
Contact the City Editor
at citydesk@unc.edu.
7