After six months of conducting research and gathering community input, Benicia High School’s Schedule Advisory Committee is ready to make a recommendation for a new bell schedule at Thursday’s school board meeting. The schedule would go into effect at the start of the 2017-18 school year.

The committee was formed in November and is comprised of students, parents, teachers and administrators at Benicia High. The goal is to create a new bell schedule that meets WASC and LCAP goals while creating a schedule that is workable for students. Among the desired outcomes are the ability to minimize stress and anxiety based on the structure of a typical school day, providing opportunities for student support and giving teachers time to develop professionally and collaborate with other teachers.

Currently, Benicia High has a non-rotating six-period day that lasts from 8 a.m. to 3:05 p.m., with the option to take an “early bird” class at 7 a.m. According to a written report by the Schedule Advisory Committee, the current schedule was developed in the 1950s to support assembly line work and other industrial jobs that parents had at the time. Unfortunately, the schedule has shown to have a negative impact on students’ sleep. According to the California Healthy Kids Survey and surveys conducted by the committee, Benicia High students were receiving less sleep than recommended.

The committee had considered several different possibilities for a schedule that would decrease stress for students while still giving them the proper hours of education per week. Ultimately, the committee settled on a seven-period block rotation schedule. Among the changes:

-Each class would be structured to meet three times per week.

-Classes would range from 70 to 80 minutes instead of the current 50-minute classes for a total of 225 minutes per week.

-Students would have two flex/tutorial periods to receive academic or emotional support or have additional time to do homework.

-Teachers would have two hours of staff meeting, professional development and collaboration time built into the schedule, which was a specific WASC goal.

-Classes would no longer be identified by numbers but rather by letters (e.g., “A Period,” “B Period”). A “G Period” is optional.

-The first class would start at 8:30 at the earliest and possibly 9:10 at the latest, depending on the day.

The Schedule Advisory Committee noted a variety of benefits in its written report, including a later start time for students, fewer courses to prepare for each day, 10 minute passing periods, more time for teachers to engage students in hands-on lessons, students having more time to reach college requirements and students getting out early three days a week if they are not enrolled in a G period.

The report also addresses concerns that people may have over the new schedule, including inconsistent period lengths, a later end time on Friday for students and a schedule that can be confusing at first glance. The report acknowledges that challenges will take place in implementing the new schedule, hence why it would not be implemented until the fall of 2017.

“The new schedule, if adopted, would go into effect for the 2017-18 school year, giving the BHS administrative team, faculty, and community a full year to prepare for the implementation of the recommended schedule,” the report noted.

The school board will meet at 7 p.m., Thursday, in the Benicia Unified School District Board Room at the district building on 350 East K Street. There will be an earlier closed session at 6 p.m.

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