While the previously confirmed and now suspended MCCSC high school schedule change would’ve been unprecedented within Bloomington, other Indiana high schools use a semester based, hybrid/block schedule. Avon High School, the main public secondary school within the Avon Community School Corporation, is an example of one of these schools. Many of Avon’s students and staff appreciate the schedule, and few interviewed have any complaints.
Avon High School operates under a schedule in which all (seven) classes are held on Mondays and Fridays, while Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays are A, B, and C days, respectively. “A” days typically consist of periods 1, 2, 3, 5, and 6, with “B” days consisting of periods 2, SRT, 4, 6, and 7, while C days hold periods 1, 3, 4, 5, and 7. This schedule exists within a two-semester school year. This type of schedule is similar, though not identical to MCCSC superintendent Jeff Hauswald’s proposed schedule change.
Avon High School English teacher Kelly Kirkpatrick believes that her school’s hybrid/block schedule benefits students and teachers within the community. She said that A, B, and C days are far easier to maneuver than the two weekly seven-period days. “We have two seven-period days each week, where we see every class,” Kirkpatrick stated, “I do think it’s a lot on the teachers.” When asked if the process of maneuvering through each day, especially when weeks are short and classes are rescheduled, Kirkpatrick stated that “[the school] tries to make it intuitive, with lots of announcements over the intercom.”
While Kirkpatrick and much of Avon’s staff prefer the hybrid/block schedule, much of Avon’s student population disapproved of their hybrid schedule. Avon junior Eva Pearson stated that the student body was provided the opportunity to vote regarding a new schedule after the dissolution of certain COVID restrictions, and the schedule was quite unpopular. “A lot of people did not want this [hybrid/block schedule],” Pearson stated, “[seven periods are] a lot to have to sit through, and students were against having it.”
Additionally, Avon junior Cara Meissner stated that, although votes in support of the hybrid system narrowly defeated votes against it, much of the student body was disappointed with the scheduling decision, and still are. “I feel like a lot of people have just gone with it without complaints,” Meissner said, “the students, at this point, don’t really have a choice.”
The MCCSC scheduling committee will host their final meetings in March. They will develop an official recommendation during these meetings.
