Friday, December 4, 2009
Adam Robak/News Editor
Zack Rosenfeld/Staff Writer
A grievance against the proposed homeroom plan was officially withdrawn, ending a two- month stalemate in the homeroom period approval process.
The homeroom period will be added to the schedule pending the Manhattan Beach Unified School District board’s approval at its upcoming Dec. 9 meeting.
“One specific teacher, who will remain anonymous, was planning on filing a grievance against the homeroom plan and then decided not to because he or she found out that the grievance would not be relevant because the vote was done legally,” Principal Julie Rusinger said.
In the new schedule, homeroom will be 24-minutes long and will take place between third period and fourth period every Friday. Regular class periods will be shortened by two to three minutes, and snack and lunch will not be affected.
“This new homeroom period was designed for things like the Mustang Morning News, announcements, and ASB announcements,” Ruisinger said.
The teachers initially voted 53 in favor and 45 against the institution of a homeroom period. Next, the teachers voted on the number of days the homeroom period would take place. A one day homeroom schedule was supported by 31 teachers, 22 supported two days, 13 supported three days and 24 supported five days a week.
“Although the teachers voted for one day a week, the specific day is subject to change,” said Wayne Knutson, the teacher state union representative for MBUSD and history teacher.
Those in favor of the period have said it creates a time frame to complete tasks that are not academic but still necessary.
“I think it would be interesting to have a homeroom period added because it would allow students to deal with issues that might normally have to wait until a break or after school,” said sophomore Erin Murphy.
Those opposed say that the new homeroom period will be an unnecessary hassle.
“A homeroom period is not necessary, because it will cause schedule confusion for students,” freshman Jackson Casady said.
Although the proposal was passed recently, it actually was first proposed many years ago.
“About 30 years ago the school was thinking about turning to a block schedule that included a homeroom period, but it was turned down because the majority of the teachers voted it down,” Ruisinger said.
Now that teachers and administrators have approved the plan, the next step is to get it approved by the MBUSD board.
If approved, the homeroom schedule will come into effect second semester this year. After the first semester of next school year teachers will vote to determine whether this change will be permanent.
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