OHS schedule-change plan slated
Officials work out details of new blueprint

By JESSICA KELLER
ARGUS OBSERVER
Thursday, October 29, 2009 11:12 AM PDT

OHS Principal Bret Uptmor (left) and Assistant Principal Andy Kovach review some notes taken by Kovach last week during the high school’s schedule change committee meeting.

ONTARIO — A schedule change for Ontario High School is definitely in the works for next school year, but the details of the plan are still being worked out.

OHS teachers, administrators and School Board representatives met for the first time last week in a brainstorming session that produced a number of ideas but no concrete plans.

The group will meet again today and will continue to do so on a weekly basis until the details are worked out, probably by December.

“Well, that’s our goal because the (school) board would have to vote on it at the January or February meeting in order to allow the schools, in particular teachers and administrators at the high school, to advise students on next year’s course offerings and schedules,” said School Board member David Cox, who along with Nancy Alvarado, is attending the high school sessions.

The motive behind a schedule change from the current block scheduling is to benefit students’ learning, especially in core classes that do better with daily instruction. The School Board approved some sort of schedule change during the last school year but decided it would be better to take a step back, allow teachers the opportunity to be involved in the process and allow enough time to implement the schedule changes.

ADVERTISEMENT

Ontario High School science teacher Rod Williams said, while he heard many ideas were presented in the meeting, a lot of teachers are finding it hard to get a feel of what the schedule will accomplish until they know what the schedule is going to be.

Williams said he doesn’t think the schedule change itself will impact the students so much.

“Mostly, I think it has to do with how we’re going to make use of the advantages of the system we have put together,” he said, but that won’t be known until a schedule is settled on.

Williams said, as teachers, undoubtedly some will be unhappy with something or other in whatever plan is worked out.

“But we are extremely adaptable, and almost all of us are going to do a really good job, no matter what our schedule is,” he said. “There’s tons of creative ways to do this. Nothing should be off the board.”

Cox said, while many of the ideas presented at last week’s meeting will not be examined further until later in the process, it was a very positive session last week.

“The teachers and administrators, they view it as an opportunity to make some additional changes to course offerings and to address additional requirements and standards,” he said. “And they seem eager to do it. It’s not something they viewed grudgingly.”

OHS Vice Principal Andy Kovach, who is facilitating the meetings, agreed the committee has added a few more bells and whistles than just a schedule change, but, in the overall scheme of education, they are all inter-related.

Kovach said this next meeting should bring a clearer idea of what are priorities to different people, but he agreed selecting a type of schedule — whether it’s hybrid block and traditional, an eight-period traditional school day or a seven-period one, to just name a few options — is something that will have to be decided upon in the next couple of weeks.

From there, the details will be worked out, and, while they might create their own challenges, the committee is not tackling the process from that standpoint.

“We don’t want to put shackles on this committee as far as creating something,” he said.

Both he and OHS Principal Bret Uptmor think the end result will be positive for the high school and its students.

“The impetus behind the change is to benefit the students,” Uptmor said. “We didn’t say, ‘It’s 2009. Let’s change the schedule.’ It’s about student success.”