By Uy Pham
Teachers at Fountain Valley High School (FVHS) selected a new bell schedule for the 2023-2024 school year in a vote that began last Monday and ended last Friday. This schedule will come into effect starting the first day of school.
The bell schedule will continue to be a traditional format with a zero through sixth period. The main difference is there will no longer be a break between second and third period. Passing periods will also be shortened to seven minutes, which is one minute less than the current eight minutes. Barons All Together time will remain on Mondays for school-wide activities to build school culture and connectedness.
FVHS teachers initially considered both block and traditional schedules throughout this year’s selection process. Ultimately, the Huntington Beach Union High School District (HBUHSD) only permitted teachers to consider traditional options. For traditional options, FVHS teachers voted for the option of zero through sixth periods compared to first through seventh periods.
Teachers selected the new zero through sixth period option in a final vote against the current 2022-2023 bell schedule.
A bell schedule change is supposed to happen every four years as dictated by the contract between the District Educators Association (DEA) and HBUHSD. The process to create a new bell schedule for the first year (2022-2023) of the four year cycle began in the 2021-2022 school year. The trigger option to change the bell schedule again could be initiated in the second year (2023-2024) for the third (2024-2025) and fourth (2025-2026) years of the four year cycle.
However, a signed Memorandum of Understanding, an agreement between the DEA and HBUHSD on certain terms as a one-time exception to contract language, permitted FVHS teachers to initiate the process in the 2022-2023 school year and switch the bell schedule for the 2023-2024 school year.
According to English teacher and DEA Vice President Steve Schultz, the trigger option will still remain for next school year.
“[The bell schedule] will stay for potentially three years, but there is an opportunity for another trigger vote in September,” Schultz said. “If 75% of the staff vote to trigger [the bell schedule process], there will be another bell vote at the end of the [2023-2024] year. Whatever wins will be the schedule for the next two years.”
