By Anneliese Duong
Fountain Valley High School’s (FVHS) teachers voted to overhaul the modified Monday bell schedule, leading to a possible change for second semester.
According to English teacher and District Educator Association site lead Stephanie Palmer, FVHS teachers did not have the chance to vote on any special schedules last year, including modified Monday and finals. In an effort to rectify that issue, the Process Committee and Bell Schedule Committee met to propose new Monday schedules for teachers to vote on.
“What happened last year is teachers voted on the regular day schedule, Tuesday through Friday schedule, but any special schedules weren’t voted on,” Palmer said. “We didn’t follow our own contract language there so we’re trying to go back and correct what we didn’t quite do right last year.”
In addition to the problem of the contract violation, Principal Paul Lopez mentioned that there is not enough time for the cafeteria to prepare food in a 44-minute time period. Especially because third period is significantly shorter on Mondays, this proved a struggle for them. According to Lopez, this is why the district granted a tweak in the bell schedule midway through the year.
“This all started with just trying to take out the break because food service was having a hard time changing from break time, having one period to put breakfast away…and then providing a hot lunch for students,” Lopez said. “That was the simplicity of it to start.”
Finding a schedule that works for teachers, staff and students is no easy feat. Besides the demands of the teachers’ contract, other factors need to be considered such as instructional minutes and the impact on students.
“I’m concerned with the equity issue too. I don’t want [FVHS students] working harder than students at other schools in the district and I don’t want our teachers working longer for the same pay either,” Palmer said. “Even though teachers are the ones who drive this process and vote on the schedule, I think it’s really important that we design a schedule that works for students, not just teachers.”
Out of five proposed options, teachers voted on Friday, Jan. 20 for a modified Monday schedule that included BAT, no break, and moved lunch to after fourth period. However, the Huntington Beach Union High School District (HBUHSD) must approve this schedule before it becomes an official change at FVHS.
“The next step for me is to contact the district office and make sure we’re on solid ground with the tweak we’re going to make,” Lopez said. “The next thing is to get it out to the students and the parents…[about] the change in schedule.”
If this schedule gets passed, then Mondays will shorten by 10 minutes, due to the loss of break. School would end at 3:23 P.M. instead of 3:33 P.M.
After the potential modified Monday schedule change, the committees plan to overhaul the current bell schedule if the district approves the process. Then the committees face a greater challenge of juggling contract language along with state requirements and district needs to design schedules that meet the needs of staff and students.
“We definitely will do surveys—staff and student surveys,” Palmer said. “I would like to have a couple students on the Bell Schedule Committee, along with people from the office and classified [staff] even though they don’t officially vote on it.”
This article was updated on Friday, Jan. 20 at 2:44 P.M. to address that teachers, not administration, voted for the schedule overhaul.
This article was updated on Friday, Jan. 20 at 5:21 P.M. to add the final schedule teachers voted on, which HBUHSD must approve.
