Dear Students and Families,
In January I sent out an email informing the IHS community that we would be postponing the implementation of the new Master Schedule until the 2020-21 school year. After a series of parent, student and faculty meetings in December, it became clear that the postponement would provide necessary time to further engage the faculty, students and parents in order to ensure that we most effectively implement change.
In January, we hosted a series of collaborative and informative parent meetings. During an open Q&A session, parents engaged with Matt and me in an open discussion related to the identified benefits and challenges with the proposed model. In addition, Matt and I hosted two tabletop workshops at which parents were asked to more deeply consider benefits, challenges and possible solutions regarding subcomponents of the Master Schedule (Unit Lunch, Intervention/Enrichment period, Instruction for 77 minute block periods, and the # class periods available to students).
February provided the opportunity to consider the feedback we received and to develop plans to address various needs including the identification of eating spaces and strategies to address student access to food during a unit lunch, development of an effective I/E schedule, a plan for teachers to access professional learning related to teaching strategies that support teaching in the block and a consideration of how students can maximize our course offerings in the new Master Schedule.
In March, our focus has expanded into the area of professional development. The faculty used research to consider multiple planning strategies when designing lessons in a block format. Additionally, during this past Friday's Superintendent's Conference Day, the IHS Faculty partnered with a consultant with an expertise in implementing teaching strategies that support teaching in the block. We look forward to building upon these experiences throughout the remainder of this year and next.
This week we are excited to further engage students in our process. On Wednesday and Thursday, we will host a series of open Q&A sessions as follows:
Wednesday - 7:00am in the HS Conference Room
Wednesday - Period 9 in the HS Conference Room
Thursday - Periods 3, 4, 5 & 6 (all lunch periods) in the CPR
In order for students to best prepare for these meetings, here is a link to the key slides in the student presentation during the December assemblies:
Student Master Schedule Presentation
During these meetings, students will learn how to join various sub-committees and work side-by-side with faculty members and administration to consider solutions to the identified challenges. Sub-committees will begin meeting in April and will extend into the beginning of next year.
In next month's "Master Schedule Monthly", I will share additional updates as well as the date and time for another parent meeting which will be held later this spring.
Best,
Dave
