Introduction:

Hello fellow students, parents, and faculty. It has come to our attention that our high school is currently in the process of changing student schedules to a semester-based 4x4 block schedule. This means that students will have four class periods per day as opposed to the current seven class periods per day. This system will divide classes up into four 90 minute class periods and a mandatory “flex period” in place of an optional study hall. Classes taken will last one full semester, and will conclude following end of semester tests. During the second semester a new set of four classes will be given which will last the remainder of the school year.

The problem:

While we do believe that this change is being made with our best interest at heart, we also believe that this plan suffers from critical oversights that require our immediate attention. Our goal is to work alongside the school board and to share any potential issues with them, along with allowing parents and students alike from all view points to voice their opinions.

Reasons why:

While we do understand the goals of this change are to decrease academic stress and to increase instructional time, we believe it raises serious concerns that require community input: 

Missed days have greater consequences

By doubling the amount of content covered per day, students will naturally be expected to keep up with the increased work load. However if a student misses a single school day then they will be left much farther behind. In the current schedule missing a single day means a single day’s worth of catching up. However we worry that with the increased content pace missing a single school day now means being behind on two days worth of work. Seeing as our school already has an awful attendance record, this will no doubt decrease our attendance even further by increasing the amount of make-up work students have to work to get through in order to get back on track.

Splitting up project based classes 

Band, theater, yearbook, and similar project based classes will suffer tremendously as student numbers will be cut in HALF. For example, the band has year-long projects in the form of concerts. However with each half of the class participating at different times of the year, there would effectively need to be two smaller, less successful bands consisting of random instruments and musical imbalances who can overall achieve less. The alternative involves semester one students handing off all of their work to semester two students in order to keep the projects year-round focused. Unfortunately neither students would have the full experience of working on the project. In another example Autobody students would be taught how to build half of a car and to hand it off to other students who have the class in the second semester, thus creating knowledge gaps in which nobody has completed the full project from start to finish.

Disruption to musical curriculum

Marching band and symphonic band are meant to build sequentially, thus they must be taken asynchronously. This is because symphonic band teaches valuable fundamentals while marching band assumes mastery in these skills and looks to apply them elsewhere. Continuously practicing fundamentals is necessary as it keeps students' skills sharp and constantly improving.  In the semester block schedule half of the students would be taking both marching band in the fall and symphonic band in the spring. This creates an issue where the band is functioning with members who are not performing at their best. These students are looking to apply fundamentals which they either have not fully mastered or have grown rusty on. In fact these students would not have practiced their instrument since the previous school year and will be expected to call upon their skills at a moment's notice. With the amount of crunch time that the marching band is constantly working under as an afterschool program there will simply never be enough time to accommodate reteaching fundamentals.

Gaps in sequential learning

Learning gaps are proven to decrease student retention of information.  When it comes to learning subjects like math, science, and languages, consistency in learning is incredibly important. We are worried that if a student begins taking a language like Spanish in the first semester and returns to take Spanish 2 the following year they may have the Spanish in the second semester. This leads to a 365 DAY knowledge gap in which students will have forgotten much of the content. As a result, these classes will need to spend much more time than necessary reviewing old content which will eat away at the time they are given.

Negative teacher feedback

As we all know, nobody knows what’s better for students than the teachers who work hands-on teaching our students. Teachers have been polled about this change and the response has been overwhelmingly negative with 76.5% of teachers being against 4x4 and 90% of department heads being against 4x4. We must trust teachers to know what works best for their classrooms and not disregard their opinions as they know what works best for their classrooms.

Loss of senior privileges

Dismissing 5 minutes early has been one of the last senior privileges that has yet to be removed. These senior privileges are great for seniors as it boosts their morale and makes them feel accomplished and valued by the school. With this particular privilege seniors are able to leave early and get ahead of traffic when driving out of the J-lot. As far as we have been made aware this privilege will be erased following the 90 minute class periods. Taking away senior privileges will make them feel devalued and underappreciated.

Double or nothing on AP classes

Taking an AP class can be stressful for students who have not taken any APs previously. Students may be unsure about things like the work load and their success in the class. Commonly students begin by taking only one AP class their first opportunity in order to get a feel for how they perform in APs. This is a great solution as it allows them to gain familiarity with APs and to test the waters. Seeing as AP tests are taken in May each year, AP classes will be expected to run year long. In the new schedule an AP class lasts a duration of 45 minutes. But wait? Each block is 90 minutes, how will this add up? Well the current solution is that students will be required to pair 2 AP classes together, totaling up to 90 minutes. This unfortunately creates a “double or nothing” policy in which students must take 2 or 4 APs. Students unfamiliar with AP classes will be less likely to participate as they won’t be able to get their feet wet and will feel uncertain about the workload. Less students taking AP classes means that students planning to go to college will have less credits as the school is raising the barrier to entry for AP classes.

Not all students are college bound

An upside to the new schedule is that this prepares students for college life as college schedules are commonly set up with block scheduling. However, this  wrongly assumes that all students are planning on going to college. Putting a rising freshman in a college level environment is just not practical. While there is a need to decrease the shock that comes from transferring to college, this is not the way to go about it. Students should take on the college lifestyle when they are mature enough and ready to make the change. High school freshmen should not be held to the same standards as college freshmen, as college students are much further developed than high school students.

One-Size-Fits-All “Flex Period” Study halls are currently very important to the student’s work/life balance. During study halls students are able to take extra time to complete their assignments that they may not be able to complete outside of school. Every student’s schedule is different and it should be up to them to decide whether or not they need that extra time. All students being forced to take a “flex period” are being stripped of their right to tailor their schedule to their needs. When a student does not need this extra time they should be able to take other classes in order to meet their individual goals. Preventing students from making this choice creates a “one size fits all” situation where students are forced into taking a class they may not need.

Decreased test scores 

Test scores are incredibly important to our high school's standings. Changing the schedule to a 4x4 block schedule has been proven by modern studies to create little to no improvement in test scores.

Curriculum overhall

Going through more content in a single day means that more homework will need to be assigned in order to keep up with our current curriculum. We worry that If the curriculum is kept, then more homework will be assigned per night in order to align with the class work completed at twice the speed. The alternative involves each teacher rewriting their entire curriculum in order to fit the new schedule appropriately which takes extra time that teachers will have to spend on reorganizing their classes for the coming school year.

Special education concerns

Shorter class periods allow for regular reinforcement and teacher check-ins to be provided to students with special needs. Students with IEPs and learning accommodations may benefit from shorter periods. Longer classes risk overwhelming these students and hindering their ability to learn at a consistent pace and to remain focused.

Shorter attention spans, longer classes

Admittedly the current generation has been proven to have shorter attention spans than previous generations of students. As it currently stands students are having great difficulty paying attention in classes for 45 minutes. Though the length of the class can be extended, the content that is being taught is going to fall on deaf ears as students will be completely tuned out by the time you reach the 1 hour mark.

What you can do:

This is an issue of dire importance and we need all the help that we can get. Without your support there is very little that can be done to address these concerns. Every voice matters regardless of your stance. If you want to make a difference we urge you to sign this petition to show your support for student and parent involvement in school issues. We also would like to ask you to share this petition to not just your friends but also to your parents. As it stands, parents have yet to be polled and we need their support now more than ever. There is a school meeting on the topic on October 14th at 5:30 PM located at Maury River Middle School. At this event we look forward to seeing you all present and participating in this discussion. If you have further questions you can reach us at either our email :stop.the.block.4x4@gmail.com or through our instagram account:stoptheblock4x4. Voices united are voices heard.