Red Oak school board votes in favor of 7-course schedule

RED OAK — The Red Oak School Board of Directors approved a change to the schedule at the high school during the Feb. 13 board meeting.

The Board unanimously approved a change to a period schedule (seven instructional periods plus a seminar), from a block schedule.

The periods will be 57 minutes each, with seminar going for 40 minutes.

Before the vote, the Board heard opened it up to any visitors in attendance to address any concerns.

High School Principal Jedd Sherman said a couple people voiced some concerns, but they were concerns that had already been addressed.

“The Board was considerate in listening to them, but there was nothing new that they were offering,” he said.

Under the new schedule, classes would tenatively start at 8:05 a.m., and would go until 3:20 p.m.

“There’s got to be a whole registration process in March and with the numbers coming in early April, we can re-consider how we configure the bell schedule,” Sherman said. “But we’re definitely away from block scheduling at this point.”

Registration for the returning classes will be going on through spring break, according to Sherman.

By late March, incoming freshmen will be able to register.

“By early April, we’ll have a discussion about what our numbers section looks like,” he said.

A zero block, which would take place before school starts in the morning, was also discussed, but the Board has agreed to continue exploring the idea.

A zero block, which would be an optional course offering, will be considered once all the numbers from registration are in, Sherman said.

Under the new schedule, there will remain 56 credits available to students as it was for block scheduling.

Currently, Red Oak High School requires 52 credits to graduate.  

Red Oak is tied with Kuemper Catholic for the third most credits required to graduate high school in the Hawkeye Ten Conference. Lewis Central requires the most credits with 55.

The Board had considered other options, including a 55-minute period, with a 50-minute seminar, as well as another 50-minute period which would have started at 8:15 a.m. and would have had a 25 minute seminar.

The Board went over the options with Red Oak High School Principal Jedd Sherman and other representatives from the  high school at the Jan. 23 Board meeting.

Charts and graphs presented to the Board suggest that the instruction time and contact with students would increase under a regular eight period day, as opposed to a block schedule.