By Jolene Farley
At Monday's school board meeting, Hills-Beaver Creek Superintendent Dave Deragisch suggested switching the high school to a block class schedule. He hopes the change would increase the number of elective courses offered to students.
"We (now) don't have a lot of flexibility in scheduling," Deragisch said.
Students currently attend seven 48-minute classes. If the schedule changed, students would attend four 85-minute periods or four 83-minute periods.
The 85-minute schedule offers a 15-minute homeroom at the beginning of the day and a 35-minute lunch break. The 83-minute schedule has no homeroom period and a one-hour lunch break.
Classes would last a quarter of the school year instead of a semester under the block system and students would have no study halls.
Under the current system, students can earn seven credits a semester. Under the block system, students could earn eight credits in the same time period.
Teachers now teach five courses every day. With the new schedule they would teach three courses a day, cutting down preparation time for classes.
"One of the biggest reasons we have students struggling in school is they don't do homework," said Deragisch. He hopes to alleviate that problem with the new scheduling by offering students more time to complete work during class.
He said he discussed changing the schedule with the teachers and their reaction was positive. "They are ready to start tomorrow," he said.
Teachers would have to be creative to keep the interest of students for an extended time. Which means adjusting teaching styles accordingly, according to Deragisch.
If more elective classes were offered, the district would need to borrow or purchase more books for new courses.
"It's options that we are looking at for students, to help them move on to bigger and better things," said Deragisch.
The board enthusiastically directed Deragisch to explore the possibility of the schedule change. A committee will help determine what works and doesn't work about the different schedule.
"I'm excited about this if we can offer more opportunities for the kids," said board chairman Alan Harnack.
ECFE funding
The Hills-Beaver Creek school district has until June 30, 2002, to spend money allotted for Early Childhood Family Education. Due to recent state funding regulation changes only 5 percent of the more than $30,000 designated for ECFE can be carried over into next year's budget.
"We have a lot of money, and we have to spend it or we give it back," said Elementary Administrator Jil Vaughn.
Superintendent Dave Deragisch, administrator Jil Vaughn and teacher Pam Sells will meet to decide how to disburse the funds.
Linda Bakken was hired for ECFE home visits at a salary of $2,355, Pam Sells was hired as ECFE Parent Educator and ECFE Director at salaries of $1,275 and $425, Sara Walraven was hired as ECFE Child Educator at a salary of $508.
In other board business:
Board member Gary Esselink presented a report on the latest school district funding information from the Minnesota legislature.
Governor Jesse Ventura is proposing a $17-per-student cut in the student aid formula. A proposed tax reform package could cause another $357 per student decrease in aid. School districts may also lose their tax-exempt status and be charged sales tax on all purchases.
Seniors at Hills-Beaver Creek High School asked the board for open campus and driving privileges. The board agreed to open the campus, but students cannot drive. The board wondered where students would drive to in a community the size of Hills.