One of the first big decisions to hit the desk of incoming Anne Arundel County Schools Superintendent Kevin Maxwell will be whether to alter class schedules at the county?s high schools.
A committee recommended three schedules ? pared down from a pool of 14 ? to meet the needs of students while alleviating heavy teacher workloads. Currently, the county?s 12 high schools operate on an alternating A-day/B-day schedule where students alternate sets of classes. But teachers complained the new schedule left little time to plan and overloaded some instructors, particularly English teachers.
The study committee found the existing A-day/B-day, a seven-period day and a four-period block schedule all satisfied the district?s graduation requirements.
The final decision will be left up to Maxwell to decide whether to make changes for the 2006-07 school year.
“Workload is still a problem, but there are other ways to handle that,” said Debbie Ritchie, outgoing president of the Anne Arundel County Council of Parent Teacher Associations and a member of the scheduling committee.
Ritchie said high school teachers currently pulling hall monitor or lunchroom duty during the day could be replaced with other staff to free up planning time.
Some critics of the proposed scheduling changes said altering students? routines would hurt student achievement.
“It?s not uncommon for schools to change a schedule,” said Arlen Liverman, Anne Arundel County Schools director of high schools. “Whether you have a 50-minute class or an 86-minute class or a 126-minute class, as long as you give the students the support, they?re going to be fine.”
Maxwell, a community superintendent in Montgomery County, was hired last week as the permanent replacement for Eric Smith who resigned as superintendent last fall. Maxwell is scheduled to start work no later than July 1, and can accept the recommendations of the committee or make his own suggestions. Any changes to the high school schedules must be approved by the county Board of Education.
