Teachers and parents question new class hours District officials plan block scheduling at Brick Township H.S. BY DANIELLE MEDINA Correspondent Anew scheduling system set to launch in September at Brick Township High School has some parents concerned and district officials admitting they could have done a better job communicating with them. The high school will begin A/B block scheduling, beginning with the 2008-09 freshman class. That means students will take fewer classes each day, but for a longer period of time, school officials said. Sets of classes would alternate every other day and class periods would be 80 minutes in length, under the A/B block scheduling. Currently, classes are held each day and are 45 minutes long. A 2007 study by the New Jersey Principals and Supervisors Association shows that A/B block scheduling increases student achievement, raises standardized test scores and improves student attendance, district officials said in a Jan. 24 presentation to the Board of Education. "The emphasis is on depth of instruction over coverage," said Assistant Superintendent Walter Hrycenko. "For example, in English class they could put on a play. You can do a lot in an 80- minute period." In the A/B block scheduling system, students will have the opportunity to take electives in their freshman year and will graduate with 160 credits versus 140 credits under the old scheduling system. Interim Superintendent Melindo A. Persi said that the district has been studying block scheduling for two years. The time and place is right now to make the change, he said. The high school's 2008-09 freshman class are currently the eighth-graders at Lake RivieraMiddle School and have been taking classes in a modified block already, Persi said. "There's a natural flow from middle school to high school," he said. Hrycenko also tried to dispel some myths about block scheduling, including decreased pupil contact time with teachers and less retention because the class length exceeds the attention span of students. "Teachers will have to teach differently," Hrycenko said. "If you do it right, the effects are minimized." Teachers are currently scheduled to receive in-service training in February and will attend a three-day institute over the summer. The district also plans to hold an informational meeting for students and parents in March, he said. However, a number of parents who attended the meeting said that they were concerned that the change was coming too quickly and questioned the data the district was using. "If block scheduling isn't working at a school, they're not going to fill out a survey," said Duchess Lane resident Karyn Cusanelli, who added that a more recent study on the issue will be released in February. Cusanelli's husband, Nicholas, questioned the amount of training that teachers will receive and said it takes two years to properly prepare a teacher to teach in a block schedule. He also questioned the quality of the training of teachers who were trained in block teaching in other districts and now work in Brick. Some parents, however, think the change is good. "It sounds like the way I took classes in college," said LaurelAvenue resident John Coughlin. "It's good preparation." Tim Puglisi, president of the Brick Township Teachers Association, said he had mixed feelings about block scheduling. "At one point, I'm very excited about the direction, but I have some concerns," Puglisi said. "I don't think we are ready to implement it at BTHS in September. The training is not in place." Puglisi said that he based his opinion on what he's heard from the teachers at BTHS. "The BTHS staff is 50-50. They're not real confident yet," he said. But Persi said that he was certain that the staff would be trained and ready to implement the changes by September. There are no plans to change the scheduling at Brick TownshipMemorial High School, he said. Following the meeting, Hrycenko said the district should have communicated better and educated parents on the benefits of block scheduling prior to the presentation. "We didn't do a good enough job," Hrycenko said. "It's a big decision to do this." Hrycenko added that the district will be meeting with concerned parents prior to its scheduled March meeting to further discuss the issue.