By Hannah Parker
Online News Editor
Mira Costa’s Education Council met on March 29 to discuss the 2016-17 school year’s schedule and the prospects of changing the office hour schedule to one office hour a week every Wednesday instead of the current AM and PM office hours on each Wednesday of a full school week.
Ed Council consists of the department co-chairs at Costa who meet twice a month to discuss issues within the departments that they represent. Last year, Ed Council decided that the current office hours schedule would be implemented for a year then reevaluated through surveying students and staff. According to the office hours survey Mira Costa principal Dr. Ben Dale distributed to all students, 79% believed office hours are beneficial for their learning.
“After reviewing the surveys, the feeling that we walked away with was that this year mornings hours worked well and the afternoon hours were less productive,” Costa Principal Dr. Ben Dale said. “The afternoon hours are more relaxed and upperclassmen often leave school because their schedule ends after fourth period.”
Ed council is deciding between keeping to the current schedule or modifying office hours to one office hour every Wednesday of each school week. According to the student survey, 19% of students said that during morning office they do nothing compared to the 27% that said that they do nothing during afternoon office hours.
“The Social Studies department is in favor of the proposal for the single hours,” Social Studies Department Co-Chair Bill Fauver said. “This plan considers all the problems and meshes them into one proposal, changing office hours to one hour. It solves problems such as the lack of consistency, productivity, and interruptive drills and rallies.”
At the meeting, the idea of a combination plan was also discussed. This plan would consist of having AM and PM office hours on certain weeks while having a single office hour once month on Wednesdays where Costa students and staff are participating in drills. If this idea were to be implemented next year, drills would no longer coincide with class periods, Dale said.
“As a department, we are split with a vote nine to six to change the schedule,” Science Department Chair Danny Sponaugle said. “However, I feel as if the combination plan is a compromise that most of the department will be on board with.”
At the meeting, department co-chairs revealed what their department had voted on prior to discussing a combination plan with their department. The english, math, physical education and foreign language departments voted to keep to the current schedule while the social studies, visual and performing arts and science departments voted to change to a single office hour each week.
“The math department prefers to keep the current schedule because it guarantees that we get to meet with the students,” Math Department Co-Chair Jason Robertson said. “If a student is struggling, they need more help then just every other week which would be a possibility if office hours were to be changed. We also like the idea that we are ensured the time to collaborate because it permits consistency for our teaching.”
Ed Council will vote on which of the three ideas to implement for the 2016-17 school year on April 20 during morning office hours. After Ed Council votes on a suggested schedule, the schedule will be voted on by Costa staff. Following the vote, the Manhattan Beach Unified School District Board of Trustees will vote for final approval. The approved schedule will be implemented for the 2016-17 school year.
“Last year we said that we were going to follow this office hours schedule for one year and see how it worked out,” Dale said. “The data shows that students are far more productive in the mornings compared to the afternoons which means adjustments are needed. There are details we need to work out such as if departments will alternate weekly or when teachers can collaborate. However, this is all done in the effort to increase productivity during office hours.”
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