A proposal has been submitted to the Board of Trustees to change the high school schedule in response to the Covid pandemic.  This proposed change will be for the 2020-2021 school year.  LCSD1 would like input on your preference for the high school schedule.  Please complete this survey by 11:30 PM on Friday, August 7, 2020.

Background 

Currently, our high school students take 8 classes per year.  Students have 4 classes that meet on A days and 4 classes on B days. These classes alternate every other day for the entire school year.

In this proposal, students will take only their A day classes during the first semester and will then take their B day classes during second semester.  Because classes meet every day instead of every other day, each year-long course will be completed in 1 semester.  The total number of hours it will take to complete a class will be the same as with the current schedule.

Rationale for the proposed change:

  1. This plan minimizes the number of distinct groups any given student will see during a semester.  This aligns with the CDC and the American Academy of Pediatrics recommendations that fewer classes reduces the number of peer contacts (4 groups of students instead of 8).  This is intended to be a preventative measure to reduce the number of students who may be exposed to an infected person.
  2. During the spring shutdown, schools received concerns from parents and students expressing the difficulty of managing 8 classes under remote learning conditions.  In the event that schools close, students will have fewer courses to manage at one time. 
  3. Because students will meet every day, schools will be able to respond quicker to a student in danger of failing a course.

Challenges with the proposed change:

  1. Courses like band, orchestra, and drama will have to schedule other practice opportunities during the semester they do not have these courses to prepare for events and performances.
  2. AP and IB courses will meet either during the first or second semester.  Schools will need to schedule other opportunities to prepare for these culminating exams.
  3. Students may incur gaps of time before taking the next sequential course in a discipline. For example, if a student took a math class during the fall, they will be finished at the end of the first semester. This student would then not have the next math class in the sequence until the start of the next school year (unless they choose to take math both semesters). 

Survey

Please choose which of the following describes you. *
Please indicate the school(s) in which the students in your household are enrolled for Fall 2020, or in which you are assigned. (Check as many as apply). *
Please choose which of the following statements best describes your preference on the proposed High School schedule options: *