New rolling block schedule stirs controversy among school community

Changes to the new schedule

During a heated Jan. 12 school board meeting, a new rolling block schedule for next year was unveiled and explained by a committee that had put in months of studying and creating it. However, the change has provoked a strong negative reaction among some community members.

The new schedule means classes will start at 8:40 a.m., 50 minutes later than the current start time, in an effort to give students extra sleep. Classes will be for 85 minutes instead of 95 minutes. In addition, an eighth period will be added and a daily 25-minute tutorial will occur after the first period of the day.

Although there are eight periods available in the schedule, students will be allowed to enroll in a maximum of seven academic classes. A Monday in which all classes meet no longer exists, and school will end as late as 3:40 for some students each day.

Los Gatos High School will also have a new schedule for next year, but it was already on a rolling block, and its new schedule didn’t generate any opposition at the meeting. The more aligned schedules at the two schools will allow teachers to teach at both campuses.

After two hours of discussion and debate and protest by some upset Saratoga community members during the meeting, superintendent Bob Mistele, the final deciding authority in the schedule question, approved the recommendation of the 26-member Schedule Advisory Committee (SAC).

The district board did not conduct a formal vote on the issue. But Mistele asked the board members for their opinion, and they split 3-2, with Douglass Ramezane, Robin Mano and Rosemary Rossi in favor of the change, and President Cynthia Chang and Katherine Tseng against the new schedule.

The SAC will hold further meetings, times and locations to be announced in principal Paul Robinson’s future emails, to answer questions and concerns of parents and students.

Tempers flare board meeting

Hands shot up in agreement as a parent addressed Mistele and the board about the proposed revisions to the new bell schedule. Tension hovered in the room as some attendees expressed angry opposition in a rancorous, resentful tone. Parents, teachers and students each used 3-minute comments to express either their approval or grievances to the board regarding the changes.

According to several board members, the meeting had the largest turnout in the last seven years. The public comment section was so long that the meeting lasted until 10:30 p.m.

Last February, principal Paul Robinson announced that a new full block schedule would be created for the 2016-2017 school year. One of the reasons that Robinson used to call for a change in the current bell schedule is that many students dislike the current “skinny Monday” schedule with the seven 47-minute class periods.

Later in the year, the administration from both high schools in the district approved a process for developing a new schedule at both sites: the SAC. Saratoga and Los Gatos students, teachers and parents applied to be part of the SAC. The district office chose the committee members based on previous involvement in the district.

The district hired professional facilitator Ken Yale to lead the meetings. Teacher Tony Palma was in charge of data gathering and analysis, and district secretary Jane Marashian controlled the minutes and logistics. Other staff members from Saratoga on the committee include music director Michael Boitz, economics and government teacher Todd Dwyer, English teacher Natasha Ritchie, science teacher Kristen Thomson, speech therapist Ronda Vierra, guidance counselor Alinna Satake and assistant principal Brian Safine. Parents of Saratoga students on the committee included Paige Berardo, Ron Jones, Darrell Miller and Laura Tillett. Seniors Vanessa Bahk and Josh Dey and sophomore Sohini Kar were also on the committee.

In September, the SAC was told to build a schedule to allow students to take seven classes, increase opportunities to connect with teachers, allow time for more teacher collaboration, align instructional time at Saratoga and Los Gatos High. They were asked to do all this in a way that aligns with current research about student learning, Boitz explained to the audience at the meeting.

After hours of research and meetings, the committee unanimously agreed on a new rolling block schedule before their deadline for the Jan. 12 school board meeting.

Opposing viewpoints come forward

Some teachers said a later start to the school day could be beneficial to students’ learning and health.

“Science makes it pretty clear about teenagers and when they learn best,” science teacher Jenny Garcia said. “The new schedule uses this research to do what’s best for our students in terms of optimal learning and stress reduction.”

Some parents, though, are concerned that it would only encourage their kids to go to bed later and sleep later.

“For working parents, it creates a hardship because many of us cannot drop our kids off at the later time and still make it to work on time,” Saratoga parent Sunny Wang told the board during the meeting.

Although the class periods are shorter next year, many administrators and teachers have said they are not overly concerned about the amount of classroom time that will be lost.

“I don’t think the 85-minute periods will make a lot of difference in my classes since we usually spend the last 20 minutes or so doing practice problems so students are more comfortable once they get home and do their homework,” Garcia said. “Actually, I think 85 minutes will work better for freshmen who have a hard time focusing for 95 minutes.”

However, several parents told the board that the reduction in instruction time by six hours every two weeks is too much. The California state standard requires schools to provide a minimum of 64,800 instructional minutes.

Some parents are concerned that the eighth period instructional time has been calculated into this requirement, yet students are only allowed to take only seven classes.

The scheduling committee said an eighth period will allow students to spread out their schedules, enabling athletes to take classes earlier in the day and miss less class time than they do with the current schedule. Counselors can schedule students’ free periods in the morning or at the end of the day so they do not have gaps in their day.

But student athletes would still be missing a large portion of class. Even if a student does not have a seventh or eighth period, they will still have to leave their fifth- and sixth-period classes early on game days since those periods end at 2:10 p.m., and many athletes have to leave for away games at 1:30 p.m.

Another concern brought up by some teachers and parents is that a 25-minute tutorial will be too short to make up missed work, labs and tests, or that a daily tutorial will not be used by most students.

“Since most students in my Calculus BC class do not take seven classes anyway, they can usually make up a test during their off period,” math and engineering teacher Audrey Warmuth said.

Another bone of contention is the shorter tutorials could eventually become nothing more than a longer break for students who already do not use tutorials to their advantage, Saratoga parent Becky Wu argued to the board.

Many parents at the meeting said the committee selection process overlooked parents who have not been as involved in the past, but wanted to find a voice in the committee. Additionally, Saratoga parent John Poo said the SAC was formed by the administrations of the schools, not by the Board; therefore, it was not subject to the rules of the Brown Act, the state’s sunshine law would have required them to hold publicly agendized meetings.

“The SAC did not receive enough community input, and I did not see efforts to publicize the existence and efforts of this committee,” Poo said. “The survey they issued was flawed, and received little community response due to a lack of explanation of what it was meant for.”

Though the committee did not gather as much community input as some parents wished, Boitz said that the committee completed extensive research with students’ best interest in mind.

The weeks and months ahead will tell whether next year’s schedule is modified in response to the vocal complaints.

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An earlier version of this article mistakenly stated that Sohini Kar is a Saratoga parent; she is a sophomore. In addition, staff member Ronda Vierra represented Saratoga High on the Schedule Advisory Committee, but was not mentioned.