Trimester questions

Here are questions that have been posed so far. If you wish to comment on any of these, please do so by number so that everyone can follow the conversation more easily. If you have additional questions, be sure to contact one of the R&D PLC members.


1. Will AP classes be 2 trimesters and 1 trimester of prep for the exam?

2. Will we be guaranteed a 70 minute conf./prep. hour each trimester? Or will we have study hall or hall duty?

3. What about building relationships with students if we are changing hours or classes each trimester? CWC classes?

4. What about CSLP and Tadet Teaching, would they be allowed to continue all 3 trimesters?

5. Will the amount of preps increase? Consider trimester II below:
TriI TriII TriIII
US1 US2 US2
WH1 WH2 US2
US1 WH1 WH2
WH1 US1 WH2

6. If a student enrolls in marketing 1st and 3rd trimester, could they continue in the work study program 2nd trimester?

7. What about length of class time for students with attention problems/difficult students? Wouldn't this be a problem for all staff, but particularly for sped staff.

8. What about schedule changes (possible) 3 times per school year = more IEP meetings, staff meetings, etc.? Sped teachers have 9-20 students per caseload and wouldn't this be a problem for situations in which students move from sped to regular ed and then back?

9. What about the fast pace of the trimester for special ed. students in CWC?

10. What about the fast pace of the trimester for special ed classes for which we worked so hard to align with regular ed classes?

11. What about tech students? Would they be limited to a choice of FHN coursework only 1st and 2nd hours or 4th and 5th hours under the trimester?

12. How will special schedules be handled? (For example: how would homerooms, pep assemblies, etc.) be scheduled in the trimester?

13. Will guidance and our school still allow the 10 day add/drop period (Since classes will be shorter)?

14. How many study halls will be allowed in the trimester (We currently have some students with 2-3 study halls)?

15. How will this affect dual enrollment at the community college?

16. What courses or department will have preference on the back to back
trimesters (A-B, B-C)?

17. Will all full year core courses be given preference on back to back trimesters (A-B, B-C)?

18. In regards to Advanced Accounting and Introduction to Accounting classes, which are both yearlong classes, yet are electives. Will electives be given the same recognition in scheduling as core classes? Accounting students will suffer if they were split A-C or C-A trimesters.

19. What is the priority listing for electives?

20 Which department is first on the list?

21. Which one is last?

22. I realize there are only so many A-B, B-C slots that can be filled. Where are electives in the pecking order?

23. If we had a trimester schedule, I understand there will be more electives available, in 3 or 4 years into the new system. Are we just setting ourselves up for more electives taken (switched over to required courses) and ending just where we are now, having to rewrite our curriculum again to match? Basically, is there any way to guarantee no more electives taken (taken from the students and replaced with required courses)?

24. If we are now offering more courses each semester, what plans/ideas do we have for teacher/room accomodations? It is my understanding that teachers will be traveling more (same amount of classrooms with more courses offered). Any remedies to criteria to determine who would travel and who would not?

25. The district-level time task force suggested making some trimesters longer than others, in anticipation of snow days, reducing the number of progress reporting periods per trimester, and splitting up the parent-teacher conference hours into each of the 3 trimesters. If different from the rest of the district, how would FHN handle snow days, progress reports, report cards, parent-teacher conferences, open house, and exams? To what extent would these be handled in the manner proposed by the district-level time task force?

FHN Studies the Trimester

Since R&D already has the blog established as a forum for people to share ideas, this blog will also serve as a way to share information and comments about the trimester schedule.



If you have questions for R&D to research about trimesters, please send an email to the PLC members. As we get questions and find information or answers, we will post them here. R&D PLC members are:

Mary Baker
Kathy Carron
Aaron Manfull
Kim Rastberger
Bryan Spencer
Jon Travis
Steve Willott



For starters, here are some links to the schools that the High School Time Task Force visited in August 2007.



William Mason High School, Mason, Ohio

http://www.masonohioschools.com/school_cpages.aspx?schoolid=1&cid=128

http://www.masoncomets.org/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Mason_High_School

http://www.masonbands.com/



Little Miami High School, Morrow, Ohio

http://www.littlemiamischools.com/hs/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Miami_High_School_(Ohio)



Bloomington High School South, Bloomington, Indiana

http://www.south.mccsc.edu/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloomington_High_School_South



Martinsville High School, Martinsville, Indiana

http://msdadmin.scican.net/mhs/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martinsville_High_School

Here's a school (Grand Ledge High School in Grand Ledge, Michigan) that is implementing a trimester schedule next year (2008-2009):

http://www.glps.k12.mi.us/ghs/

Spring Lake Public Schools in Spring Lake, Michigan has lots of information about trimesters (including a blog that has had some Oct. 2007 comments posted from St. Charles County teachers):

http://www.trimesters.org/

Fairview High School in Fairview, Tennessee (Williamson County Schools) has recently begun using the trimester schedule.

http://www.wcs.edu/frvhs/