STORY TOOLS

• E-mail story
• iPod friendly
• Printer friendly

Tell us about it

• What would you add to this story? Tell us what we missed.
• Do you have photos from this event? Documents we need to see? Share with us.
• Upload photos & videos
• More ways to get your stuff online and in the paper.

More Local News

• Marco Island to keep City Manager
• Bryan Milk named City of Marco Island Parks and Recreation Director
• Merchants pulling out all the stops to encourage Islanders to shop local

Share and Enjoy [?]

Less than two weeks before they vote to make a change to the high school schedule, the Collier County School Board will hear a new proposal on how the district might change the schedule.

On Monday, district officials will present an additional plan for the School Board to consider before it votes on a possible schedule change later this month. The new proposal calls for students to have seven classes per day and for teachers to teach six of seven classes.

The idea for the new plan came from community members, according to Chief Instructional Officer Martha Hayes.

Hayes said the new plan solves some of the district’s problems with a schedule that was six, 55-minute classes with an optional seventh period. She said the new proposed schedule would increase the number of credits from a possible 24 to 28, while meeting the district’s goal to give students additional time in each class.

Furthermore, the plan wouldn’t cause the district to incur extra expenses to pay a teacher to teach an additional class and would solve transportation issues for those who want to take an additional seventh period under the first proposed schedule.

The plan will also save the district more money. A six-period with the optional seventh-period schedule will save the district $3.5 million. Going to a seven-period day would save the district $5.7 million, according to district spokeswoman Leanne Zinser.

The proposal also will solve the district’s problem about how to spread an Advanced Placement class over an entire year, which was recommended in the Hinshaw and Culbertson report.

The move also will provide equity for teachers, Hayes said, adding that middle school teachers will also teach six of seven classes next year.

“It is financially sound and it provides equity,” she said.

Whether the schedule will be acceptable to the public is another story.

Students have come to board meetings requesting a 32-credit schedule. A group comprised of student leaders from all public high schools have proposed a schedule that would allow students to take between 24 and 32 credits, depending on their desired educational path.

Students would be divided into three groups: students who need remediation classes like intensive reading or math; students who are college-bound and would prefer to take Advanced Placement and honors classes and earn as much weight in their GPA as possible; and students who would like to enter the workforce or trade school right after high school.

Students who would need remediation or would like to head down the honors track would take 32 credits under the student plan. Everyone else could take 32 if they wanted to, or take 24 and graduate early, thus saving the district money.

Students in Collier County currently take four classes a semester, a total of eight credits a year. They spend 86 minutes in each class.

Hayes said the public is encouraged to come and voice their opinions on the proposal.

The meeting to discuss the plan will be held at 6 p.m. Monday in the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Administrative Center, 5775 Osceola Trail. Then, the School Board will vote on a new schedule for high school students at its Feb. 21 meeting at 3 p.m.

School Board Chairwoman Linda Abbott said she welcomes the input.

“The schedule is evolving through communication with people,” she said. “We want the public to convey to us what they think so that we can understand all sides more clearly.”