Timpview going to block schedule

PROVO — Timpview High School will use a four-period daily block schedule beginning next school year.

Principal George Bayles announced the decision Monday after asking his faculty members their opinion on Friday. The faculty considered scheduling constraints and voted for a block schedule, Provo School District Board of Education member Carolyn Wright said.

Under a block schedule, class times will be lengthened and classes will meet on alternating days. There will be eight classes total, four each day. Currently, the school has seven periods each day.

Increased graduation requirements have made it difficult to schedule students for required classes and electives. Scheduling will be eased by offering eight classes per semester versus seven.

Adding stress to Timpview's scheduling problem is the elimination of three full-time teaching positions next year. The school's population is projected to decrease, and school funding is tied to enrollment.

Projections show enrollment decreases continuing at Timpview through the 2010-11 school year. Provo School District's other high school, Provo High, switched to a block schedule four years ago, leaving Timpview one of the last high schools in the state offering the traditional seven-period schedule, Bayles said.

Timpview parents studied the scheduling issue and found that most schools throughout the United States that switched to block schedules did so out of necessity, said Vicki Winterton, Timpview's PTA president.

Issues such as money or graduation requirements forced the change. The block schedule is not preferred academically because teachers struggle filling 80-minute classes with productive work, Winterton said.

Sue Curtis, a member of the Board of Education, wants more money to hire more teachers to help solve Timpview's scheduling problem.

It also would help decrease the student-teacher ratio, which would resolve a problem that has put Timpview on probationary status with an accrediting body.

The Utah State Office of Education puts Provo's student-teacher ratio at 28. Provo School District Superintendent Randy Merrill said it is 26.5. The difference in numbers has to do with factors such as librarians and counselors, Merrill said.

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E-mail: lhancock@desnews.com