Comments delivered and written by Kimberly Steinhorn, Greenwich High School Teacher at the Oct 23, 205 BOE meeting, submitted to GFP
Good evening Dr. Jones, the Board of Ed., the Greenwich community, my fellow Greenwich Education Association members, and our students – the most important stakeholders,
I’ve been at Greenwich High School for 20 years, proudly serving this amazing community.
The 48 block rotating schedule at Greenwich High School is an effective way for students to take a wide variety of classes while earning the required 25 credits for graduation.
Four years ago, I served on a year-long schedule evaluation committee when Dr. Jones first proposed the idea of changing our schedule.
This rigorous schedule analysis process with Dr. Jonathan Costa, an external advisor from EdAdvance, paid with money from our budget, determined that our current schedule provided students with the most choices and opportunities to take classes that are challenging, exciting, and required at Greenwich High School.
One thing the schedule provides for students is Opens or Learning Centers. Those blocks are invaluable time for our heavily-scheduled students–such as musicians and athletes–who need to complete their homework, students who have been absent meet with teachers, or students with 504s and IEPs who are legally granted extended time. The majority of teachers and students would say that the schedule serves them well.
My students said,“Teenagers do not like to be bored!”
Another student said, “With opens and days where class drops, we have time to do homework or study for a test, and hang out with our friends.”
My students asked me to read their names: Yakili, Anthony, Henrique, Julieta, Ulises, Arnold, Marvin, Edwin, Gaku, Valentina, Lizmary, Rafael, Issei, Maite, and Nayeli- to name a few, and they said, They implored me to tell you – “We need the electives–music, photography, theater, design and build, culinary arts, and video production.”
One student even said she is going to start a petition to keep the schedule the way it is!
Having a stagnant seven block schedule does not fuel the need for creativity and novelty which has been studied as a contributing factor to a teenager’s success in high school.
In a community like Greenwich, it breaks my heart to think that you would put the financial bottom line ahead of student productivity, student success, and student choice. Listen to the students before making a capricious decision about changing the schedule. Please, keep the schedule the way it is.