With the long history of Littleton High School it’s not hard to find traditions and processes that have been around for years. One of these is our block scheduling. The Purple and Gold Calendar at Littleton has been around for 20 plus years. In that time many Lions have mastered and fell into the flow of it. During Covid, Araphoe and Heritage High School have also switched to the block schedule. Due to the EPIC campus all three schools had to stay on the block schedule. With the addition of the other schools the chaos of it all has become even more confusing. The district has more recently proposed a daily alternating schedule. An example of the new schedule would be Monday odd, Tuesday even, Wednesday odd, and Thursday even.
Other schools in the district have found some problems with the block schedule. One of these is lost instruction time. The schedule is currently set up with 93 minute class periods. Teachers have complained that this does not give them enough time for proper learning instruction. It must be kept in mind that these schools have much longer seminar periods, which eat into instruction time more than anything else. Another issue brought up is the unbalanced scheduling between odd and even days each semester. This is evident with our past four day week that had three odd days. This problem, however, is a result of poor planning, not of the block schedule.
Imagine you are a student who lives 40 minutes away from school, or you are a child of divorced parents who can’t afford to leave anything at the wrong house. You realize right when you get to school that you forgot your Even day things at home because you thought it was an Odd day. This is a huge inconvenience and a very real concern that students have if the block schedule were to be changed. Students rely on a consistent, solid schedule to support them.
In the past, when a daily alternating schedule was implemented, students didn’t know what day it was until they arrived at school. They walked up to teachers and asked them, “Am I supposed to be here today?” Sometimes, even the teachers didn’t know the answer. Many people are concerned that changing the schedule would increase tardies and absences. If somebody has an off period one day, and assumes that they have it the next because of an inconsistent, alternating schedule, they might not come to school. Students deserve to feel confident that they know what classes they have that day so they can come to school fully prepared.
Another concern that students hold about changing the schedule is planning things in advance. Some classes are easier to miss, and therefore are more ideal to schedule, say, a doctor’s appointment during. People rely on the knowledge that they definitely will have an Even or Odd day when they are planning vacations and such. Long Term planning by teachers, for field trips and scheduled absences, are also impacted. If students cannot go to a Track meet because there was an unforeseen, required Chemistry lab scheduled, or vice versa, that is an unnecessary problem. Explaining an alternating schedule to parents and guardians can be difficult, especially when the students themselves don’t have a good grasp on it.
This calendar adjustment, if implemented, could make it much harder for teachers as well. There are many teachers that have kids who need to be picked up from school and daycare. If teacher’s schedules go into an alternating schedule, it can be hard coordinating with who needs to pick up their child. Even if the child’s school has after school care, it can still be very tricky and confusing if the days are not consistent.
Another way changing the calendar to an alternating schedule is it would be harder to schedule makeup tests with students and may affect grading. If a student missed a test and the teacher needs to have them make it up during one of the students’ off periods, this could be pushed off really far out since you can no longer schedule them on a day that is always an odd or even day. Grading could also be affected by a change. If a teacher only has planning periods on an even day or has the majority of their planning on an odd day, alternating could cause grading to pile up because it would not allow back to back days for the teacher to plan and grade. This could then cause stress levels to rise in the teachers and affect their mental health.
Work schedules for students may also be affected by this. Since the days that odd and even classes take place on won’t be consistent, students can’t properly schedule shifts for work since the days they have time they are available will keep changing per week. This can cause problems for bosses because then they would have to find someone else to cover the shift, and this can eventually cause the boss to be annoyed and fire the student.
One thing everyone in the district can agree on is that scheduling is currently an issue. With the addition of EPIC and other schools it’s a challenge to keep the easy flow of any schedule. Littleton’s block schedule has been around for a long time and if teachers were entrusted to look over the schedule to identify problems in it, it could work well district wide. The block schedule avoids confusion and gives students the confidence that they are prepared for the correct Even or Odd day. Schedule problems are felt district-wide, but an alternating schedule is not the solution.
Other schools in the district have found some problems with the block schedule. One of these is lost instruction time. The schedule is currently set up with 93 minute class periods. Teachers have complained that this does not give them enough time for proper learning instruction. It must be kept in mind that these schools have much longer seminar periods, which eat into instruction time more than anything else. Another issue brought up is the unbalanced scheduling between odd and even days each semester. This is evident with our past four day week that had three odd days. This problem, however, is a result of poor planning, not of the block schedule.
Imagine you are a student who lives 40 minutes away from school, or you are a child of divorced parents who can’t afford to leave anything at the wrong house. You realize right when you get to school that you forgot your Even day things at home because you thought it was an Odd day. This is a huge inconvenience and a very real concern that students have if the block schedule were to be changed. Students rely on a consistent, solid schedule to support them.
In the past, when a daily alternating schedule was implemented, students didn’t know what day it was until they arrived at school. They walked up to teachers and asked them, “Am I supposed to be here today?” Sometimes, even the teachers didn’t know the answer. Many people are concerned that changing the schedule would increase tardies and absences. If somebody has an off period one day, and assumes that they have it the next because of an inconsistent, alternating schedule, they might not come to school. Students deserve to feel confident that they know what classes they have that day so they can come to school fully prepared.
Another concern that students hold about changing the schedule is planning things in advance. Some classes are easier to miss, and therefore are more ideal to schedule, say, a doctor’s appointment during. People rely on the knowledge that they definitely will have an Even or Odd day when they are planning vacations and such. Long Term planning by teachers, for field trips and scheduled absences, are also impacted. If students cannot go to a Track meet because there was an unforeseen, required Chemistry lab scheduled, or vice versa, that is an unnecessary problem. Explaining an alternating schedule to parents and guardians can be difficult, especially when the students themselves don’t have a good grasp on it.
This calendar adjustment, if implemented, could make it much harder for teachers as well. There are many teachers that have kids who need to be picked up from school and daycare. If teacher’s schedules go into an alternating schedule, it can be hard coordinating with who needs to pick up their child. Even if the child’s school has after school care, it can still be very tricky and confusing if the days are not consistent.
Another way changing the calendar to an alternating schedule is it would be harder to schedule makeup tests with students and may affect grading. If a student missed a test and the teacher needs to have them make it up during one of the students’ off periods, this could be pushed off really far out since you can no longer schedule them on a day that is always an odd or even day. Grading could also be affected by a change. If a teacher only has planning periods on an even day or has the majority of their planning on an odd day, alternating could cause grading to pile up because it would not allow back to back days for the teacher to plan and grade. This could then cause stress levels to rise in the teachers and affect their mental health.
Work schedules for students may also be affected by this. Since the days that odd and even classes take place on won’t be consistent, students can’t properly schedule shifts for work since the days they have time they are available will keep changing per week. This can cause problems for bosses because then they would have to find someone else to cover the shift, and this can eventually cause the boss to be annoyed and fire the student.
One thing everyone in the district can agree on is that scheduling is currently an issue. With the addition of EPIC and other schools it’s a challenge to keep the easy flow of any schedule. Littleton’s block schedule has been around for a long time and if teachers were entrusted to look over the schedule to identify problems in it, it could work well district wide. The block schedule avoids confusion and gives students the confidence that they are prepared for the correct Even or Odd day. Schedule problems are felt district-wide, but an alternating schedule is not the solution.
