BREWER, Maine — The Brewer School Committee decided Monday to move to block scheduling at the high school starting in the fall.
That means that when students start the 2012-13 school year, they will have only four classes a day compared with the seven they now take.
Brewer is following in the footsteps of Hampden Academy, Hermon, Old Town and others in moving to an 80-minute block system that will allow for more-concentrated classes, Superintendent Daniel Lee told the school board before members voted on the issue.
School board member Michael Hutchins, a retired teacher who taught at Brewer High School for 25 years, was the lone panel member to vote against block scheduling.
Before the vote, he expressed concern about educating teachers how to teach an 80-minute class and said a couple of times that the board voted in December to move forward on a modified block system.
Lee address both concerns by listing several teacher training sessions, one scheduled for March 16, and said that the block system adopted was designed to be modified.
“We built four blocks with eight periods — two periods in each block,” Lee said.
The modified system, which allows for 40-minute classes in some subjects, will not be implemented this fall but it is part of the plan, Perry Bennett, director of guidance, said at the meeting.
“What we have to do is build from the ground up,” the guidance councilor said. “The issue is having enough courses. To do all of it by this fall it’s just functionally impossible.”
Lee added, “I think we can create some interesting offerings with those 40-minute electives” in the future.
A school improvement team made up of nine teachers and administrators at the high school came up with the block scheduling plan after working for the last year to address problems at the school.
Another major part of the school improvement plan is the creation of a four-teacher support system for freshmen to “really get them into the high school way of critical thinking,” high school Principal Becky Bubar said at the December school board meeting.
With less than 50 percent of graduating seniors heading off to college, Lee said, the school system can do better.
“One of the biggest benefits is it permits us to get a freshman team up and running,” Lee said.
Board member Janet McIntosh said she fully supports the school improvement team and was impressed with teacher support for the changes.
A survey of teachers was done at a recent presentation about the block system, and of the 54 teachers in attendance, 41 voted in favor of block scheduling, McIntosh said.
“That, to me, says the overwhelming majority of teachers support this,” she said.
During the meeting, the board also unanimously supported a resolution opposing a City Council move to change the city charter and require the school superintendent to be a Brewer resident.
School board member David Austin said the move would severely limit the pool of candidates, a thought that was supported by his fellow board members.
A public hearing is scheduled for 6 p.m. March 13 in the council chambers and written comments also will be accepted until 4 p.m. that day.
Under the proposed change, “any Superintendent of Schools contract beginning July 1, 2013, and thereafter” would require the superintendent to “become a resident of the City of Brewer within one year after his or her employment begins,” the notice states.
the highest paid employee isnt required to live in that community? thats commitment—way to go school board—but the City Manager is required to live there within 1 year of hire. Makes sense but then again its Brewer- wouldnt expect any less.
I believe that Larry Doughty was the sponsor of this change to the city charter. If you want to find out more information about this or give Larry feedback, he can be contacted at:
http://www.ourstory.com/larrytdoughty
Larry gave me permission to post his blog address.
Deleted.
I have doubts about the wisdom of 80 minutes classes. The teachers are going to struggle to keep the students attention for that long. I believe that 60 minute classes were a struggle for teachers before they went to the 8 period day. Unfortunately I also had doubts about having that many classes in a day and I have been proven correct. There has to be a “happy median” in the schedule. I guess I’ll be looking to move out of Brewer now. Possibly to a town that allows school choice. It saddens me to think that My youngest daughter will be the only one in three generations to not graduate from Brewer High School, but I have to look out for my child’s best interest. I will definitely be looking into this and making some tough decisions along the way.
I would question the real need to move to be honest. I don’t believe that this is somehow against your child’s best interests. It will be an adjustment for teacher and child alike, but believe it or not, the child will be better off for it. This is high school, not grade school and when you get to college and have classes that are 90 minutes+ Have a little faith in your kids. They are more resilient to change than you think.
By all means, if you want to move, you are free to do so, but I just think that to say you have to move for your child’s best interest is likely a little bit dramatic.
It was not my intention to sound dramatic. I moved back to Brewer because I wanted my kids to have a good education. Brewer is my alma mater too. I’m just not sure that having 80 minute classes is going to be beneficial to the students education. I did say that I would have to look into this and then make some tough decisions. It is my intention to speak to the guidance office and find out exactly how this is going to work and what it will do to the curriculum choices that have always been offered.
How do kids know that they don’t like spinach and do love ice cream? From us, whether we know it or not. Let her face something different, it won’t be the first or the last time in her life. What would you do if her new school made major changes after you moved?
You make a good argument, westshores. I am discussing this with my daughter and I intend to speak with guidance at the school and find out exactly how much this will change the curriculum choices. I can see the good and the bad in this. I’m not resistant to change, but this seems to be a rather large change. I also realize that college classes are 90 minutes long or longer if you have labs. I too went to college. I’m just worried about the fact that they will be going from the shorter classes in “middle” school to a block schedule at the high school. High School is a major turning point in all kids lives, and some have a hard time adjusting. I’m positive my daughter is resilient enough to “change with the tides”. I’m more worried about the quality of education she will recieve under this schedule. As I said, three generations, including two of my three children have graduated from Brewer. I’m not going to just “Jump and run” because of this change. But I will be looking into the quality of education my youngest will recieve.
My daughter graduated from Brewer as well. She received an excellent education. She’s now a Pharmacist . She wouldn’t trade her Brewer High Education for any high school.
The special education class will grow as people who have learning disabilities will have a difficult time focusing for a full block; however, I do agree with a more hands-on approach. There are ways of doing this without having the lengthy classes.
ahhh !! more time to sleep or drink beer with a straw from your duffle bag, before ya move on to the next class!
I think that a lot of this has to do with how a child is raised and their attitude towards education. Not to say that parents are entirely to blame/credit for a child’s behavior in school, however it does have a definite impact.
True date
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LOL better ?
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When I was a student, I found it difficult to focus during our approx 2 hour blocks. There was a five minute break in the middle, but it didn’t always help. I don’t have ADD or anything like that and I still struggled to focus
If you had a good professor (teacher in this case), it was great. Too many of my professors didn’t speak English well or were extremely boring. That made it a challenge.
Imagine sitting through 2 hours of calculus….
There are countless schools in the state and across the country that use a block schedule (or some form of one). I wonder why some people act like it is the most radical movement in education. It appears (reading the article) that mix of classes will be the end result, it just won’t be in final form for this fall.
80 minute classes make it extremely hard to concentrate…students are given work to do in class, but it’s hard to focus when given 50 minutes to finish your work. I personally like having 45-minute classes. Teachers get right down to business as they know they have limited time to keep students on track.
Of course that mental case Hutch voted against it because it means he would have to teach more if he was still there. I had him for two years and all we did was make hot air balloons and almost burned down the woods. Don’t remember learning any math but heard a lot of good stories about the other teachers and not good ones!
I don’t think its fair to call him a mental case. He may be prone to becoming emotional when his opinion is in the minority.