Monett High School to undergo scheduling changes in 2019-20 school year
April 17, 2019
Vinnie Roberts
Starting next year, Monett High School will be making a shift in their scheduling. Starting with the 2019-20 school year, the school will switch from their current model of scheduling to a more traditional seven-period schedule.
Since the 2014-15 school year, the high school has been operating on what’s called modular scheduling. Much like how college classes are scheduled, modular classes were longer periods where a lesson or a lab would be taught in its entirety instead of broken up into smaller 45-minute sections.
According to Russ Moreland, Monett’s Superintendent, one of the main reasons for this change comes from conflicts with schedule overlap.
“It’s kind of like a college schedule,” said Moreland. “The difference is, in a college schedule, you don’t have to leave your college math to go to biology. That’s basically what happened with modular scheduling.”
Moreland went on to explain that due to the time constraints of operating within a traditional school day, the modular scheduling created some overlap, wherein some classes would begin before others had ended. This led to some students having to make a choice in how much of their in-class instruction time they would have to miss in order to make their schedule work.
“There were some classes that students had to pick and choose whether or not to leave early or miss the first part of their second class,” explained Moreland. “There was a lot that went in to trying to make it work and a lot of energy was spent on the schedule itself.”
Moreland also went on to express that to make the modular scheduling more successful, the school would need a larger staff in order to teach more classes to avoid overlap, as well as a larger facility to accommodate them.
Stephanie Heman, Monett High’s current vice principal and future principal, said one of the other main challenges was “resource time,” a time period wherein students were allowed to work on their out-of-class assignments and seek aid from their teachers for additional instruction.
“I think one our biggest challenges was the resource piece and how to best meet the needs of our students during that time,” said Heman.
According to Heman, this takes away from valuable class time and creates a situation where students not only had to manage their own time in order to complete assignments, but also couldn’t be guaranteed the aid that they required from their teachers, as other students from other classes would be seeking the same aid.
“I think that’s been a huge challenge for us,” said Heman. “Going back to a seven-period day, they won’t have that resource time. However, students will have the same teachers five days a week and I think that they’ll see more relationship building and more instructional time.”
Heman went on to explain that the change wouldn’t mean the end of flexibility at Monett. Currently, the school has a variety of options for students who either can’t work within the traditional school environment or are seeking education in fields not traditionally offered in a high school setting.
“We have so many things in place with our flex scheduling, our GOCAPS (Greater Ozarks Center for Advanced Professional Studies) program, our Scott Regional Technologies Center programs, and our online classes that students can still have some flexibility with their schedules,” said Heman.
According to Moreland, no vote from the Monett school board was needed to create this change, as the board had initially only voted to commit to the change for five years before reviewing the process. As the board’s commitment to modular scheduling came to a close, they began to invite voices, both from within and without the school, to voice their feedback on the program.
“They went through a process of review and evaluation from the staff and they had some parent feedback,” said Moreland. “I think they felt like the predicted outcomes of the mod schedule didn’t really make up for some of the more negative aspects of it.
“I think that based on all the feedback, the board felt that it was better for everyone to develop something that was a little more consistent.”
Monett will finish out the 2018-19 school year with b-lock scheduling still intact. The change will occur officially beginning with the 2019-20 school year.
Vinnie Roberts
Starting next year, Monett High School will be making a shift in their scheduling. Starting with the 2019-20 school year, the school will switch from their current model of scheduling to a more traditional seven-period schedule.
Since the 2014-15 school year, the high school has been operating on what’s called modular scheduling. Much like how college classes are scheduled, modular classes were longer periods where a lesson or a lab would be taught in its entirety instead of broken up into smaller 45-minute sections.
According to Russ Moreland, Monett’s Superintendent, one of the main reasons for this change comes from conflicts with schedule overlap.
“It’s kind of like a college schedule,” said Moreland. “The difference is, in a college schedule, you don’t have to leave your college math to go to biology. That’s basically what happened with modular scheduling.”
Moreland went on to explain that due to the time constraints of operating within a traditional school day, the modular scheduling created some overlap, wherein some classes would begin before others had ended. This led to some students having to make a choice in how much of their in-class instruction time they would have to miss in order to make their schedule work.
“There were some classes that students had to pick and choose whether or not to leave early or miss the first part of their second class,” explained Moreland. “There was a lot that went in to trying to make it work and a lot of energy was spent on the schedule itself.”
Moreland also went on to express that to make the modular scheduling more successful, the school would need a larger staff in order to teach more classes to avoid overlap, as well as a larger facility to accommodate them.
Stephanie Heman, Monett High’s current vice principal and future principal, said one of the other main challenges was “resource time,” a time period wherein students were allowed to work on their out-of-class assignments and seek aid from their teachers for additional instruction.
“I think one our biggest challenges was the resource piece and how to best meet the needs of our students during that time,” said Heman.
According to Heman, this takes away from valuable class time and creates a situation where students not only had to manage their own time in order to complete assignments, but also couldn’t be guaranteed the aid that they required from their teachers, as other students from other classes would be seeking the same aid.
“I think that’s been a huge challenge for us,” said Heman. “Going back to a seven-period day, they won’t have that resource time. However, students will have the same teachers five days a week and I think that they’ll see more relationship building and more instructional time.”
Heman went on to explain that the change wouldn’t mean the end of flexibility at Monett. Currently, the school has a variety of options for students who either can’t work within the traditional school environment or are seeking education in fields not traditionally offered in a high school setting.
“We have so many things in place with our flex scheduling, our GOCAPS (Greater Ozarks Center for Advanced Professional Studies) program, our Scott Regional Technologies Center programs, and our online classes that students can still have some flexibility with their schedules,” said Heman.
According to Moreland, no vote from the Monett school board was needed to create this change, as the board had initially only voted to commit to the change for five years before reviewing the process. As the board’s commitment to modular scheduling came to a close, they began to invite voices, both from within and without the school, to voice their feedback on the program.
“They went through a process of review and evaluation from the staff and they had some parent feedback,” said Moreland. “I think they felt like the predicted outcomes of the mod schedule didn’t really make up for some of the more negative aspects of it.
“I think that based on all the feedback, the board felt that it was better for everyone to develop something that was a little more consistent.”
Monett will finish out the 2018-19 school year with b-lock scheduling still intact. The change will occur officially beginning with the 2019-20 school year.
