Friday, February 26, 2010
Adam Robak
News Editor
and Zack Rosenfeld
Staff Writer
A 24-minute homeroom period was approved by the school board at their Wednesday meeting, and will be instituted next semester.
Administrators said that study time, the morning announcements, the Mustang Morning News, administrative surveys, class scheduling, and other activities ‘disruptive to class’ will take place during the period.
“Students will be grouped by grade level, and have the same teacher for all four years. I think developing that kind of a relationship with a teacher will be incredibly beneficial,” said student school board representative and senior Sarah Keasler.
The main purpose of the period is to assist students who need more academic assistance and provide a time for activities which normally disrupt classes, causing an increase in overall learning time, administrators said.
The homeroom period will only be instituted for one semester, after which its benefits and costs will be measured.
“At the end of the semester we will put out an anonymous survey to the students, teachers and parents to gauge the response,” Principal Julie Ruisinger said.
“Ultimately the teachers will vote again for whether they want a homeroom period.”
Student reaction has been mixed. Some support the measure, as it will students give extra time to study or complete homework. However, other students believe the time will be wasted.
“I don’t think the homeroom period will be very effective. It will just be 25 minutes for students to goof off each day,” senior Christine Wong said.
Mira Costa’s employees had approved the measure June 15, but some teachers’ disputes with the validity of the first vote delayed the board’s vote.
A schedule change must be approved by the school board after the certificated employees have approved it, in accordance with staff contracts.
The staff’s first vote resulted in a tie. The voting period was then extended until the end of the day, because not all staff members voted. The homeroom period was then passed by a majority.
The staff originally voted on how many days the homeroom would occur Dec. 9. The staff elected to have the period one day each week.
Social studies teacher William Fauver filed a grievance due to a violation of school contracts. He said the Dec. 9 vote was invalid because the original vote did not adhere to voting procedure, because the contract’s language was vague.
“It may seem petty, but the contract becomes extremely important during these tough economic times. It is the main way to protect teachers’ rights,” Fauver said.
“Contrary to what many people believe, I actually support the homeroom. However, the contract needs to be protected.”
After the grievance was filed, the administration concluded that this specific vote was valid, so the proposal was again submitted to the school board for approval.
“A grievance was filed to the administration and a memo was made to resolve the problem with the teachers who grieved,” Principal Julie Ruisinger said.
The grievances, however, were only a delay in the process of approving the period.
After its initial proposital three years ago, the period will finally be implimented.
“A 25-minute period of free time during the second semester of my senior year sounds great to me,” senior David Curtis said.
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