The Tappan Zee High School Master Scheduling Inquiry Team met September 25 to continue the exploratory process that began last school year to examine high school scheduling options.
In preparation for October site visits to high schools that use different scheduling models, TZHS Principal Dr. Jennifer Amos reviewed with the team the three most important scheduling attributes members had identified by in May: accessibility of elective courses, a common lunch period, and common time for teachers to meet, plan, and develop academic resources and lesson plans on a daily basis.
Collectively, team members discussed what they most wanted to learn from site visits and drafted questions for host school parents, students, faculty and administrators about their experiences and lessons learned. For those whose schools have recently transitioned to a new schedule, questions for students and parents included how stress levels and homework load may have changed. Members are also interested to learn how different scheduling options provide common planning time for teachers, how administrators rolled out new schedules, and difference between the number and types of electives available to students in their new schedule compared with the previous one. The team will also look at the structures and practices in place to support features of different schedules–such as a school-wide, common lunch period–at each high school.
Over the coming weeks, the team will be identifying schools and conducting site visits. Once site visits have been completed, members will reconvene to discuss their findings and form recommendations to present to the South Orangetown community.
The Tappan Zee High School Master Scheduling Inquiry Team is comprised of students, staff, building and district administrators, and parents.