Herndon Middle School students will experience a modified schedule two days a week, more secure lockers, continued literacy efforts and a slightly reduced staff as they move to start the 2007-2008 school year next month.
The school has adopted a trial block scheduling approach for Wednesdays and Thursdays designed to increase the focus and study time to certain classes and aid in the transition from the middle school to high school schedules, according to Frank Jenkins, principal of Herndon Middle School.
"The thing that we’re trying to avoid is those transition times that exist when students are moving into one class and settling in, packing up and getting ready to move to another class," Jenkins said. "When you take those pieces off of the class time, how much time do you really have left for solid instruction?"
The new schedule doubles class times from about 45 minutes to about an hour and a half on block schedule days, splitting the number of total daily class periods in half during that time, Jenkins said. The new schedule could also serve to help students transition more easily into Herndon High School, where block scheduling exists on every school day, he added.
THE IDEA WAS discussed between teachers and administrative faculty and agreed upon over the summer to be approved on a trial basis, according to Jenkins.
"The feedback that we were getting when we put this idea out there is that it may work to help our teachers get a little more time with the students," he said. During a block schedule "when you want 15 minutes to go over homework you’ve got it. When you want to review the material before an assessment, you’ve got it."
"It just gives them a little more flexibility and space to move through their lessons."
While the added time will definitely allow for more space to teach and work on projects, difficulties may arise in keeping children’s attentions for the lengthened class periods, especially after those children go through 45-minute classes the rest of the week, according to Claire Simanski, a Herndon Middle School art teacher.
"It’s going to take some time to adjust and I think that after some time, for some kids, this could really be a benefit," Simanski said. "We have to try it out, and see how the kids react … but I’m not sure at this point [if it will be beneficial overall], it’s uncharted waters."
THE SCHOOL SAW an end to a long-standing locker security deficiency when Fairfax County Public Schools workers spent two weeks this summer pulling them out to reinstall them correctly, Jenkins said. Due to a history of lock instability, the school had to move to a system of independent combination locks last year.
"They used to vibrate, and the reason for that was that the wall was crooked, they weren’t grounded properly," he said. "So that problem has been corrected … now I feel very comfortable with the situation."
The second year of the school’s program that focuses on reading and literacy will include a greater push to encourage students to discuss what they have been reading this year, Jenkins said.
The school will also be reviewing its options for potentially increasing the number of teachers after county destaffing. The school system had projected a decline in overall enrollment which led to the reduction of four full-time and three part-time teachers, Jenkins said.
"Right now, we’re looking at enrollment of 1,038 students and I’m staffed for 980," he said. "FCPS will come in within the first couple weeks and we’ll do an evaluation."
"If their numbers are true, then I’ll be OK, but if not I’m going to need some more teachers."