High Schools Being Forced To Drop The Block

By VERNON ROBISON

The Progress

A long-standing method of scheduling the school day at high schools in the Moapa and Virgin Valleys has been deemed out of compliance with state administrative code.

Clark County School District (CCSD) officials have found regulatory problems with policies surrounding the block schedule at both schools. They have ordered these problems to be resolved by the beginning of 2023-24 school year. But with school master plans for next year due to be finalized within the next two weeks, this mandate has school administrators scrambling to overhaul their master schedules in time.

What’s more, the decision has local students, parents and community members questioning why such a sudden and disruptive change is needed for schools that have traditionally performed well.

Background & benefits
The block scheduled is an innovative approach first put into practice at Moapa Valley High School starting in the early 1990s. It was first applied at Virgin Valley High School about five years ago.
The block allows all students to enroll in up to eight courses. These courses are presented in four-period blocks every other day. Classes are around 80 minutes each, compared to the more common six-period school day of 47 minutes per period.

“The original purpose of the block schedule was to provide students in our rural area with more coursework opportunities in an attempt to match the range of opportunities available to urban students,” said MVHS Principal Hal Mortensen in an interview last week. “It has always been seen as a way, with our limited staffing, to offer more to our students. And it has always been pretty successful at doing that.”

The longer class periods also allow extra time for elective courses unique to the rural school. For example, the MVHS Agriculture program classes must transport students by bus to and from the MVHS Ag Farm to complete coursework. The longer periods in the block schedule allows for that transportation, leaving adequate instructional time for the course.

Other classes benefitting from the block schedule’s longer periods include courses like agriculture mechanics, robotics, culinary classes, construction tech and even marching band rehearsals.
Another benefit of the block schedule is that it tends to allow students to be “credit rich” in their schooling. A minimum of about 24 credits is required to graduate in CCSD. But the block schedule makes it possible for students to earn up to 32 credits in their high school careers.

The extra periods bring some flexibility. Students are available to take dual-credit college courses during the school days, to explore Career and Technical Education (CTE) courses, or to just load up on elective courses that they might enjoy.

In addition, over the past 4 years, principals at VVHS and MVHS have worked together with their newly synchronized block scheduling to expand course offerings for the students of both schools. For example, when a teacher offers a dual-credit college class at one of the local high schools, it has been open to students at the other high school to attend virtually during the same time slot.

Finally, the block schedule allows flexibility to help students at the lower end of the academic spectrum. Students that may be struggling in one or more subjects could use the extra periods for remedial work. In fact, students who fail a class at MVHS are currently required to attend a “credit retrieval” period rather than be allowed any open periods. This enables these students to receive extra help and get caught up to stay on track for graduation.

Open periods: noncompliant
But the double edge to having all those surplus credits is that it allows students to put more open periods on their schedule.

For example, freshmen at MVHS are required to have a full schedule of eight periods. But sophomores are allowed one open period, juniors are allowed two and seniors are allowed three.
These open periods are the focus of the current clamp-down by CCSD central officials. Over the past month, they have closely examined the schools’ open period policies and found them out of compliance with state regulation.

In a notice sent to the schools in January, CCSD School Associate Superintendent Lindsay Tomlinson expressed concerns about the open period policy. The notice cited a state regulation which mandates that in order for a CCSD student to be considered, and publicly funded, as a full-time pupil, the student must be enrolled in a minimum of “six courses or the equivalent of six periods per day if he/she is in grade 9, 10 or 11.” The notice implied that MVHS and VVHS might be operating outside of that standard.

But given the 30-year precedent of the block schedule at MVHS, local school administrators initially felt that this regulation had a more open interpretation. So they responded to the memo asking for some clarification, and proposing alternate interpretations of the regulation. They also asked for meetings with CCSD central administration on the subject. All of these requests were left unanswered, Mortensen said.

In a meeting of the School Organizational Team (SOT) on Jan. 18, Mortensen talked about the memo with SOT members.
“In that meeting, he was uncertain where it was going to go at that point,” said the school’s SOT Chairwoman Marquessa Aikele. “He presented it to us to keep us updated. He said that he was just keeping us in the loop.”

On Feb. 1, administrators at the schools received an investigatory document from Tomlinson stating that they were in violation of both state administrative code and the Nevada Revised Statutes in regards to open period policies. If the violations were not remedied immediately, disciplinary proceedings could follow, the document stated.

The principals were also forbidden by the document to discuss the particulars of this matter with their SOTs or other members of the community, at the risk of further disciplinary actions. This embargo on the CCSD information was lifted later in the month.

Plans to move forward
High school principals at both Virgin Valley and Moapa Valley said that they have already shifted into high gear to find the best solution to the problem for their kids.

Mortensen said that he had met with both the SOT and his staff members last week, as soon as the embargo was lifted, to begin to work out alternatives to the block.
Mortensen explained that the block schedule would no longer be possible under the new interpretation of the regulation. With about 300 students from grades 10 and 11 who currently have open periods, there would not be enough resources to bring them all back to the classroom.

Considering the funding for staffing being allotted to the school, and the limitations of the school facility itself, it would be impossible to schedule adequate class sections or have enough seats for that many kids under the block, Mortensen said.

Mortensen added that he and the SOT are considering the possibility of a fixed seven period school day. But this would require teachers to give up a portion of their prep time to make it work. Because of the collective bargaining agreement between CCSD and the teacher’s union, a majority of MVHS teachers must vote in agreement to give up that prep time in order to employ the 7-period schedule.

If that doesn’t happen, the next choice would be a standard 6-period school day, similar to most other CCSD high schools. This option would end up increasing class sizes significantly at the school, Mortensen said.

“This option will hurt our CTE and elective classes, too,” Mortensen said. “But it will also hurt our credit retrieval students. They will be forced to do online summer school which most cannot complete.”

Mortensen said that word of the change has gone out in his community. Parents and students have already begun asking questions about what it all means for their education next year.

Mortensen is planning a parent meeting to discuss these things on Wednesday, March 8 at 6:30 pm in the MVHS Cafeteria. All parents are welcome to attend.

VVHS principal Mike Wilson also said that plans for his school’s schedule next year are still in the works. Though he was less specific on what plans are being considered.
“We are researching things pretty closely still and working on different scheduling options,” Wilson said. “I will be meeting with our SOT and with my teachers and staff to go through that process. But I can tell you that everything we do will be keeping foremost in mind what is best for our kids. That is what is driving everything we do.”

Community frustration
Education advocates in both communities have expressed frustration and raised questions about the sudden change.

Marquessa Aikele said that the district’s treatment of this issue was indicative of a more general pattern in its dismissive treatment of the SOTs.
“CCSD central is not giving (the SOTs) any say over what can work best for our kids,” Aikele said. “They don’t even acknowledge the SOT’s right to ask questions about it. Rather they just come in and say: ‘Ok, this is what needs to happen and you don’t really have any choice in the matter. And by the way, it has to be done in two weeks!’ That is not autonomy.”

Aikele said that the district’s initial “gag order” on the principals back in February was not only a violation of the Nevada Revised Statute but it had also wasted precious time and had disrupted the process of dealing with the problem locally.

“After Hal talked to us about it in January, we wanted to be updated at the February meeting,” Aikele said. “But he told us that he couldn’t talk to us about it. He had been ordered not to. How does that help us be collaborative at all in governing our school?”

Virgin Valley Community Education Advisory Board (VVCEAB) President Jodi Thornley also expressed frustration about rural schools being forced into an urban box.
“CCSD is now forcing us to change something that has worked for us for many years,” she said. “We have considerably higher graduation rates in our high schools than the CCSD average, so we are obviously doing something right. This change could force higher class sizes, allow less electives, and it could reduce credit retrieval and study skills class time for those who need extra help to progress through the general curriculum.”

“As hard as we try, we cannot seem to get through to CCSD that we have different needs in our rural setting than they do in the urban areas,” Thornley added. “Something has got to give!”