School board mulls block schedule
BY PAM BRANNON Gulf Breeze News news@gulfbreezenews.com

Some Gulf Breeze High parents are already expressing concerns about the possibility of block scheduling being implemented here next year by writing letters to the school board and administration.

Santa Rosa County School District Superintendent John Rogers said the school board meeting of Dec. 13 at 6:30 p.m. would be a good place for parents to hear what the scheduling possibilities for next year might include.

"I don't think, at this point, I would personally recommend to the school board that every high school in the county adopt block scheduling," Rogers said. "We are to have a report at our December meeting to see what cost saving there would be to each of the schedule options and how we would need to implement changes. But with the cutbacks from the state, and next year is only going to be worse than this year, we need to do something. I would just like to see each of the high schools have options to adopt what they think is best for their students."

Currently, all north end high schools in the county are on the four by four block schedule. Only Navarre High and Gulf Breeze High are not on block scheduling. Rogers said they are looking at not only the four by four block schedule, but also the six-period day with teachers teaching five periods. Right now Gulf Breeze High is on a seven period day, teaching five.

However, school board chair JoAnn Simpson said it might be time for all the schools to be on the "same page" on scheduling.

"I personally think we may be at a point where we all have to be on the same page, and not have each principal decide for their own school. Next year is just going to be worse in cutbacks from the state, and we may not have the luxury of allowing each school to decide for themselves."

She said when block scheduling was first suggested for Pace High School, she was not only serving her first term on the school board, but was a parent of a high school student. "I was 100 percent against block scheduling. I was very concerned about my son, who is 30 years old now and was a junior in high school then. I was concerned about the educational impact on him and all the students at Pace," she said. "But I visited a school in south Florida where it worked well, and now I have seen it close up here. It has many, many advantages for the students."

She said she had received some letters from Gulf Breeze parents concerned about the possibility of block scheduling. Some concerns included problems with progressive courses such as foreign language study.

"Our counselors work with the students to make sure they can take their foreign language courses back to back in the four by four scheduling," she said.

One major concern of the four by four scheduling, since a whole year's worth of course is taught in one semester with longer classes each class period, was Advanced Placement (AP) testing for college entrance in the spring.

"I know my daughter graduated from block scheduling at Pace with 12 college credits," Simpson said. "Many of our students from Milton and Pace have the opportunity, with more class periods and credits available to them in this form of scheduling, to actually earn enough college credits that when they walk down the aisle to get their high school diploma, they turn around the next day and get their diploma from Pensacola Junior College."

One Gulf Breeze parent has sent a letter to all school board members and administration with her concerns about the four by four schedule. Petra Mozur moved to Gulf Breeze from Mobile, where they had the four by four schedule and she did not care for it. She also teaches at University of West Florida. "I know if I had to teach my entire year long course in half the time, as the four by four schedule calls for, I could not cover all the concepts I have to cover," Mozur said. "And I have heard some teachers will use part of the time to begin homework, so the teacher can help students with homework issues. I believe if you are using any part of the instructional period for homework you do not have time to cover all the concepts of the instruction. I just do not see how it would work well."

Rhonda Chavers, president of the teacher's union in Santa Rosa County, said she is in favor of the four by four block scheduling, and has taught in the north end of the county. She said, "I have been working for over 30 years in Santa Rosa County... I prefer the four by four block because the students and teachers seemed less stressed and there was a calmer day for everyone."

On the question of AP college exam testing happening in the spring, and a concern from some Gulf Breeze parents that students will not retain the material they learn in the fall, Chavers said, "The college AP testing occurs each May nationwide on specific dates chosen by the College Board organization. With the four by four block schedule, the AP classes are all year long due to some creative scheduling by the school counselors and curriculum coordinators. That actually doubles the classes to make year long AP classes... The students are offered more opportunities to take college prep courses or work prep technology courses."