Next steps in school district’s long-term project are under way
November 17, 2009
By Chantelle Lusebrink
Issaquah School District officials and high school principals are investigating a flexible high school schedule option this year as part of their Optimal High School Experience project.“It is a very broad topic, but something we believe may help our students,” said Patrick Murphy, the district’s executive director of secondary education. “It has to do with looking at our class offerings in schools and online, the time of day they’re offered, like zero-hour or after school, having educational experiences on and off campus, the flexibility to share staff across the district and in different buildings. Basically, things that will help students balance their schedules.”
Flexible scheduling options will give students greater access and control of their academic career, according to the group made up of Murphy and the district’s high school principals — Dana Bailey, Mike Deletis, Lisa Hechtman, Ed Marcoe and Paula Phelps.
The group was formed in summer 2008 to discover what types of experiences students are having in the high schools, what is missing and what can be added to make their experiences better.
Our mission talks about “how students live in a dynamic global community,” Murphy said of the project’s importance. “Our principals believe they have the ethical responsibility to prepare students for that dynamic global world they will be going into.”
The project grew out of a suggestion in spring 2008 to create a uniform high school scheduling system, since Liberty High School had a different schedule than both Issaquah and Skyline high schools. However, the move to a uniform schedule was delayed after community concerns surfaced. It also grew from changes to the minimum number of credits high school students need to graduate, from 19 credits to 24.
The group evaluates the high school experience using five guiding beliefs:
4Access: Students must have maximum academic access to courses, programs and instruction that best meet the needs of those students.
4Connectivity: Students must feel connected to their school through relationships with faculty and peers.
4Citizenship: Students must have learning opportunities for service that allows them to think beyond themselves and builds compassion and respect for others.
4Resiliency: Students need a safe environment that allows them to move out of their comfort zones and take informed risks that allow them to grow while experiencing success and failure.
4Expression: Students must have multiple opportunities for self-expression in the classroom and during extracurricular activities.
Last year, the group gathered community, student and employee information about the experiences offered at Pacific Cascade Freshman Campus; Issaquah, Liberty and Skyline high schools; and the district’s alternative high school, Tiger Mountain Community High School.
Nearly 200 parents, students and school employees commented, offered suggestions and their experiences from which the idea of investigating flexible scheduling came from.
“We plan to use this school year to do our investigative work,” Murphy said, adding the group will study other creative options used throughout the state and nation. After the investigation and review, “We’ll look to see how we can adapt what we find out and create something that will help our students reach the goals set out in our guiding beliefs.
“Our one fear, though, is that people hear the word flexible schedule and they think we’re just talking about bell schedule,” he added. “This is not solely about bell schedules.”
“Flexible scheduling touches on so many aspects of the educational experience. This could involve, as an example — daily schedules, online learning, seat time, use of facilities,” Phelps, Issaquah High School principal, wrote in an e-mail. “In the past, we would have viewed each of these issues individually. Now, we will look at them as a whole through the lens of the Optimal Experience. The work this year around flexible scheduling will be exciting and, ultimately, has the potential to be very rewarding for our students.”
During the coming year, Murphy and the principals will look more closely to develop working solutions for students, which could include before and after school courses and online course work similar to the district’s new online health course. Something else they are looking at is offering districtwide high school courses. For example, Liberty has a culinary program, unlike the other two schools; principals may look into offering those classes so students across the district may be able to take them.
During their investigation, they’ll design a model for how it may be done in Issaquah and how to appropriately fund it.
On the Web
Go to www.issaquah.wednet.edu and click on “Optimal High School Experience.”
Chantelle Lusebrink: 392-6434, ext. 241 or clusebrink@isspress.com. Comment at www.issaquahpress.com.
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