Published: October 06, 2008 10:13 pm         

Board looks at block schedule, plan

FAYETTEVILLE — The associate superintendent and the director of secondary schools for Fayette County schools respectively updated Fayette County Board of Education members Monday on the county’s five-year strategic plan and a proposed modification to the block scheduling system of classes.

“This is our (the school system’s central office) recommendation. There is much work to be done. I wanted to give you something to chew on and think about,” said Anna Kincaid-Cline, regarding the latter presentation.

Kincaid-Cline spoke of a modified block-schedule system, in which some classes would be 45 minutes long, while others would entail 90 minutes of instruction time.

“We need a schedule that will accent what we’re trying to accomplish,” she said, of the “pretty serious concerns” she has over math scores in the county.

The board had asked the central office to look at the possibility of scrapping the four-by-four block schedule in favor of the former eight-period schedule. Kincaid-Cline spoke of the factors and concerns that have entered the equation as central office staff members contemplated the two systems.

Graduation and drop-out rates, continuity of schedules among schools as students transition from one to another, and middle-school configurations were among those cited, along with busing concerns regarding a shared starting time for elementary school students and high-schoolers.

“We have to include the director of transportation in any decision,” she said about the bus schedules. Schools must also consider the need to devote more time to students with special needs, Kincaid-Cline added.

The board will examine the issue further with more information at its Oct. 20 meeting.

- - -

According to associate superintendent Serena Star-cher, each of West Virginia’s 55 counties must provide the state with a strategic plan every five years. Fayette County is in the fifth and final year of its current plan, she said, as she brought board members up to speed on the county’s goals for the next half-decade.

One of the primary goals of the plan submitted to the state last Friday is increasing student achievement in math, reading and writing.

Starcher explained that the plan lays out professional development that will be provided to teachers and administrators during this school year and next summer to assist them “as they seek to move student achievement forward.”

That goal also looks to improve relationships between the school system and the parents and community it serves.

Starcher also highlighted two other goals of the plan — developing leadership capacity among new teachers and administrators, as well as preparing students for life after their senior year and graduation from high school.

Starcher noted that all Fayette County schools will receive a copy of the plan next Monday.

— E-mail:

mhill@register-herald.com