High school adds extra period

Three minutes really can make a difference.

Starting in the 2022-23 school year, the West Chester Area School District’s High School schedule will cut three minutes from each period and create an additional “lunch” or “support” period.

Students and staff will get a chance to recharge during the day or to make valuable connections with each other.

Staffers set three main priorities.

“The district recognized a need to provide daily enrichment and intervention opportunities for students, allow students more options for lunch periods and ensure that all teachers have regular and embedded PLC time for collaborating on best practices in the

classrooms,” reads a Tuesday district release.

Superintendent Bob Sokolowski is a proponent of the new schedule.

“A revision of the high school schedule has been long overdue; we have been attached to a schedule that was reflective of the Industrial Age,” he said. “Students need a schedule that will better serve and support the development of 21st Century skills.

“This new schedule has components that enhance collaborative time for teachers and provide intervention and enrichment time for students within the school day.”

Revising the High School Schedule has been a district goal since the previous 2019-22 Comprehensive Plan, according to the WCASD release. Over the past three years, a committee was formed to identify the priorities and research the impacts of altering the schedule as well as plan an effective rollout of the new schedule.

Interventions and enrichment opportunities will depend on the needs of the student, possibly with students working directly with teachers for additional instruction or participating in activities they are passionate about.

“Student involvement is a goal area of our comprehensive plan. Our focus is to increase student agency,” Assistant WCASD Superintendent Kayla Reynold said. “This added support period allows students and teachers to identify opportunities that will address learning needs and interests to be scheduled during the school day.”

The WCASD release: “The 2022-23 school year will see some of the smaller, more achievable schedule changes while the district continues to fine-tune the new structure and also prepares for the rollout of a new master schedule in the 2023-24 school year. To help make the changes easier to navigate for students, staff, and parents, the schedule will remain similar in overall structure with eight instructional periods a day on the same five-day rotation schedule. However, removing the homeroom period and changing class time from 45-minutes to 42-minutes allows for an optional lunch period that will also serve as an intervention and enrichment period.”

Four lunch periods instead of three will be offered and students will no longer gather in homerooms.

The district will evaluate and possibly fine tune during the school year and will allow the district’s students to continue “to pursue their academic endeavors, receive valuable assistance, and passions without adding their already busy days and instead encouraging the importance of recharging during the day,” reads the release.