Big Change Hits Winnacunnet High School Before First Day

Winnacunnet High School will enter its final five-block schedule Tuesday when 2013-2014 school year classes begin for the first time.

A new schedule format will officially kick in during the 2014-2015 school year thanks to a Winnacunnet School Board vote last week to approve a switch to a six-block day.

One period has been added to the school day, which means a different flow for students and a change in the number of classes some teachers teacher during the day. 

The board voted 3-1 Wednesday to implement a "4-4-4" teaching schedule within a six-block school day. That means teachers this year will teach four classes each day in all three trimesters — effectively increasing the total number of classes taught in a year to 12 — in addition to giving them one planning period and one "Warrior Block" student advisory period each day.

Last year, many teachers followed a 4-3-3 schedule, in which two trimesters out of the year they only taught three courses. Teachers under the 4-3-3 schedule taught 10 classes per school year, which was two less than the maximum allowed by the teaching contract.

That fact has been part of the major debate about scheduling and teaching obligations as the board worked to implement the yearlong core courses shift.

Winnacunnet School Board Chairman Chris Muns said he and board members Leslie Lafond and Henry Marsh voted Wednesday in favor of a memorandum of understanding with the teachers' union about the schedule changes. Muns said board member Wayne Skoglund voted against the measure, while Maria Brown was absent from the meeting.