In my last column I noted that we were working on new class schedules for our students in grades 7 through 12. Adopting new class schedules is part of the cost reduction plan approved by the Fairfield Board of Education last month.

We announced the new schedules late last week. At Fairfield Freshman School and Fairfield Senior High School, students will have a seven-period class day, with classes of 45 minutes in length. The fifth period of the day will be extended to allow students to eat lunch. Teachers will teach six periods every day and have one 45-minute planning period each day.

Under the schedule that has been in place at those schools, a student generally took a class for half of the school year and then switched to a different subject for the second half of the year. There were a few classes, however, that students could take all year long. Similarly, under the new schedule, there will be a small number of selected classes that are scheduled in back-to-back periods. The exact classes that will be “doubled” in this manner are still being determined.

At Fairfield Middle School, our seventh- and eighth-graders will attend four core subject classes daily, of 77 minutes in length, and one daily elective class, of 53 minutes in length. The class schedule continues the school’s practice of grouping students and teachers into teams. Teachers will have a 50-minute plan period every day. Teachers on most teams will all have their plan period at the same time, so they’ll have the opportunity to collaborate and touch base with each other. But they’ll no longer have a second plan period specifically for team planning, which was a valued feature of the schedule we’re moving away from. It is a benefit we can no longer afford.

There has been a great deal of discussion (take a look at my blog on the school district website, at [ http://www.fairfieldcityschools.com ]www.fairfieldcityschools.com) about how the new class schedules will affect students, especially at the high school. Every student is different. There is no single schedule that is best for all students. But I know that there are other top schools in our area using schedules very much like these. I have confidence that our students can succeed with these schedules

At all three schools the schedule changes will allow us to operate with fewer teachers, as I outlined to the school board when I first presented this cost reduction plan on March 4. At that time I noted the administrator positions that I had already cut, and the other positions, such as custodians and aides, that are being eliminated. The cost reductions are at all levels, but the largest number of individuals affected is teachers because most of our employees are teachers. This is the painful but necessary reality of reducing costs.

Published in the Fairfield Echo, April 22, 2010.