Administration has released that in the 2018-2019 school year the high school will follow a straight A/B block schedule with eight periods of equal length.

“I think the new schedule benefits everyone,” Assistant Principal Gerald Parr said. “Some kids do learn more effectively by going to certain classes daily, but at the same time 90-minute instruction in classes like science that have a lot of labs the time is valuable.”

Students planning to enroll in athletic classes and band next year may have concerns about losing an elective with the double blocking of those classes, but measures have been put in place to ensure that these students have the time to take all of the classes that they want to.

“We will be offering 0 and 9 hour classes in certain elective areas, possibly dual credit, and other classes depending on whether they fit the time frame,” Parr said. “There will also be credit advancement in summer school that we’ve never offered before where students can take a selection of electives. This will allow students to increase the amount of electives they take and be able to take the classes they’re afraid to lose because of double-blocking.”

However, athletes and students of classes that will be double-blocked who don’t want to schedule the class for more than one period don’t necessarily have to.

“Athletics and band can be double-blocked. For example, if a student is really interested in basketball and he really wants to he can schedule it for 1st and 5th periods so he could take it every day,” Parr said. “However, it will not be mandatory for athletes or band students to double-block. Double-blocking is a good way to give yourself the advantage because you are getting the daily routine in.”

In the new schedule, Eagle Time will be between 1st and 2nd periods on A days and between 5th and 6th periods on B days. Lunch would also be the same as it is this year during 3rd period on A days and 7th period on B days, and the amount of transition time between each class will be reduced to allow for further recovery of instructional time. The new schedule makes course scheduling and administration planning easier and benefits teachers in their lesson planning.

“Teachers that have 1st and 5th period classes have a short version of their class and a 90-minute version of the same class,” Parr said. “That makes for a lot of extra planning for teachers.”