After an entire year since its implementation, the Middletown Board of Education and members of the public were shown the effects of block scheduling. The two Middletown principals, Dr. Patricia Vari- Cartier of North and Patrick Rinella of South gave the presentation to the crowd assembled in MHSN’s library on Tuesday November 19th.
Both principals praised the policy. “The tone, the climate of the building is much more relaxed,” Cartier said, “it’s more of a student- friendly environment.” The presentation included slides which showed notable changes in the suspension rate (down by 15%), activity in the Electronic Violence and Vandalism Reporting System (down by 40%), and in cases of student bullying and harassment (down by 70%). “This goes hand-in-hand with the suspension rate,” Rinella said.
The principals reported an increase of about 6.5 percent in the daily attendance rate for both high schools. For the 2011-12 school year, the schools had an average of 89.71 percent of the student body present to a 96.19 for the 2012-13 school year, the first year that the change was implemented. “The percentages speak for themselves,” Cartier said.
The principals praised the system for the extra time that it opened up for students to have. Cartier said that students are able to participate in more clubs and organizations, catch up on school work, or use their cell-phones during the 3rd and 4th blocks.
Cartier claims that alumnus say that they were better prepared for college after the district switched to a block schedule.
Superintendent Dr. William George praised the principals, praising them for their input and leadership as the members of the BOE viewed across the room.
In addition to block scheduling, quarterly examinations were also discussed during the meeting. The board announced their changes to the system changing the original plan to have each quarterly count as 20 percent of a student’s marking period grade into five percent of their final grade. George contributed the change in weight for “a fear in a dip in performances,” that the board had for high school students as they move on to work or college.
The board discussed numerous amounts of policy from the increase of memory in the school’s technology to the construction of new fields. “The need to expand is essential,” said board member Ernest Donnelly who serves as chairman of the technology committee.
The BOE is also taking steps to look into using concussion head bands in contact sports. Board member John Bennett reported that the district is discussing the idea with doctors and is looking into a plan to protect student athletes from getting concussions. They also plan on sending out surveys asking students about adding additional sports for the 2014-15 school year.
As an update from the October BOE meeting, the board reported that they met with the Middletown Township Committee concerning having Primary elections Day off and said that the district plans to have off on the day of the primaries but admit that they are still looking for a day on the calendar to be substituted. Primary Day will be June 3rd next year.
The meeting ended at around 9:30 with the entire board present. The next board meeting is planned to be held on Wednesday, December 18th, however the board is trying to navigate it so the meeting does not fall on a night of a school event.
