A committee of Anne Arundel County high school teachers, parents and school administrators hopes to have some suggestions by early next month about how to ease growing workloads for teachers.
The group has examined as many as 14 alternate scheduling plans and has narrowed the field to a handful of models for six- and seven-period days. Under a seven-period schedule, teachers would only teach five periods and use the rest of the time for planning. The committee will make a recommendation to the superintendent who will then, with board approval, make scheduling changes for 2008-09.
Debbie Ritchie, president of the Anne Arundel County Parent Teacher Association and a member of the study committee, said the group?s recommendation could include schedule changes or additional staffing.
“We may find other ways to address the teacher workloads,” she said. “Maybe we hire some tech people to do some of this.”
Prior to the start of A-day/B-day scheduling, the high schools operated on a variety of schedules. Under the A-day/B-day system, each teacher handles six classes over a two-day period. Initial projections did not indicate a significant increase in teacher workload, but Sheila Finlayson, president of the Teacher?s Association of Anne Arundel County, said workloads have doubled.
“We had high school English teachers teaching 200 kids per day,” she said. “And we expected our high school students to do what college students weren?t even doing. College students don?t take six classes per semester.”
Teacher workloads, brought on by scheduling and increasing federal mandates, have become a major stumbling block for many school systems, including Anne Arundel.
“Changing the schedule may be a short-term solution,but it won?t fix the problem,” Ritchie said.
