July 1, 2009

New schedule hits middle school, too
16 half days set for extra help

By Sam Craig
The Chronicle

     Starting in September, The Dalles Middle School will be using the four-day-week schedule as will The Dalles Wahtonka High School.
     In a story on Friday, June 26, it was reported that only high school students would be affected by the change to the four day schedule, but North Wasco County School District superintendent Candy Armstrong called to correct that and to explain the choice in detail. When school goes back into session, middle school students in The Dalles will also be back in school for just four days a week, from Monday through Thursday.
     In addition to the shorter week, in-class time will be lengthened by a little less than an hour a day at each campus. Middle school students, whose days last year ended at 3:10, will now be getting out of class at 3:55. High school students, who got out last semester at 3:15, will be leaving school at 4:10 next year. The time of the first bell won’t be changing; however, with the high school starting at 8 a.m. and the middle school starting at 8:05.
     “There’s a couple of hours’ difference,” Armstrong said. “The staff, for example, are going to be putting in nine-hour days, of course the students won’t be there for quite that long.”
     They will, however, receive only a few hours less class time over the school year. Some students will even receive more than under the current schedule. Here’s how the district figures it: Under the current school year high school students are in class for 360 “contact minutes” per day. Over a 167-day school year, that amounts to 60,120 instructional minutes. In the coming year, students will have 412 minutes a day over a 140-day school year, for 57,680 instructional minutes, a reduction of just about 4 percent.
      But the high school will be open half-days on 16 Fridays during the year for students who need additional help. Students with poor grades will be assigned to those Fridays, but others may take advantage as well. Students who attend all 16 Fridays will pick up 190 instructional minutes per Friday, or 3,040 over the school year. That would bring them to 60,720 minutes overall or about 10 hours more over the whole school year than they would under the current system.
      The longer days have solved part of a problem the district has been trying to figure out for years. Armstrong hopes the extra time in school keeps latchkey kids from the problems that often plague unsupervised minors.
     “The plus of it,” Armstrong said, “especially at the middle school with the four days, is that one of the concerns we’ve always had is when the kids get out there’s so much time before parents get home and they can get into trouble. This will more or less take care of that, with them getting out that late. So that’s a plus.”
     Though they’ve eased the problems from Monday through Thursday, there’s still the entirety of Friday to deal with. The best way Armstrong sees to work around it is by reaching out to the public for any help they may be able to offer.
     “Now what we have to do is come up with something for them to do on Friday,” Armstrong said. “That’s going to be up to us in working with community partners to see what it is that we might be able to do. That will be something we’ll be working on this summer. Our faith-based community has expressed an interest in helping us out on that, and Parks and Rec might be able to sit in on some conversations where we can brainstorm and come up with something.”