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IMPORTANT UPDATE FROM THE LOJHS ADVISORY COMMITTEE

The LOJHS Advisory Committee urges all families with current or future LOJ students to read the following update relating to an important pending decision affecting the new middle schools next year.

WHAT IS THE PROPOSAL?


Lake Oswego School Board members are currently considering three class schedule proposals for next years middle schools. Representatives from elementary and junior high Advisory Committees and SITE Councils including LOJHS have recommended the Alpha Option to the School Board. The Alpha Option schedule is a hybrid seven-period schedule that incorporates 47-minute periods for three days a week (Monday, Tuesday, and Friday) and 90-minute block periods for the other two days (Wednesday and Thursday). A detailed description of the proposed schedule may be found in the Districts Near Term Strategic Initiatives Proposal by clicking here (pp. 7-9 of the PDF document).

HOW IS THE ALPHA OPTION DIFFERENT THAN THE CURRENT SCHEDULE?


Unlike the current six-period, A/B rollover block schedule that has been in place since the 2010-11 school year, the proposed Alpha Option schedule would: Restore the nearly two weeks of lost instruction time that LOJHS had prior to the 201011 school year; Restore a seven-period schedule; Restore additional elective offerings; Restore a prep and collaboration period for teachers; Expand student access to teachers; Ensure that teachers will see students in class at least four times a week (as opposed to the current A/B schedule where teachers see some students only twice a week); Balance the benefits of occasional large blocks of instruction time for special projects with the limited attention spans of middle school students; Restore week-to-week consistency of scheduling (e.g., the schedule each Monday/ Tuesday/etc. would be the same every week rather than alternating on an A/B cycle).

WHAT IS THE DOWNSIDE TO THE ALPHA OPTION SCHEDULE?


The downside to the Alpha Option Schedule is cost. Not surprisingly, adding back instruction time and course offerings results in additional costs of approximately $400,000 for the district. This figure represents an additional five full-time employees (FTE) between Waluga Junior High School and LOJHS.

WHY IS THE LOJHS ADVISORY COMMITTEE SUPPORTING THE ALPHA OPTION?


After extensive discussion and careful consideration, the LOJHS Advisory Committee has concluded that the Alpha Option Schedule provides the very best basis for establishing an efficient and functional middle school from the start. Some of the factors considered by the Committee in reaching this conclusion include: When the current A/B block rollover schedule was instituted in the 2010-11 school year to reduce operating costs, the districts junior high schools lost the equivalent of nine days of instruction time. Neither elementary nor high school students were called upon to make such a sacrifice in instruction time. Given the importance of getting the transition to a middle school right the first time, the Committee believes that restoring the lost instruction hours is a crucial first step. The exclusive use of 95-minute blocks at the junior high level has proved challenging to teachers who must retool their lessons to fit far larger blocks of time and has proved challenging to some students who developmentally are often ill equipped to sit still and focus for an hour and a half block. However, when the longer blocks are used only twice a week, however, teachers have the ability to schedule labs and special in-depth projects that arent possible during the shorter 47-minute period. This hybrid schedule retains many of the best attributes of both the 47-minute and 90-minute models. Adding sixth graders to the student population makes it even more important to balance the 90-minute blocks with shorter 47-minute blocks. This proposal is supported by LOJHS teachers and faculty.

WHAT DOES THE COMMITTEE NEED ME TO DO?


Along with the Alpha Option Schedule decision, School Board members also are considering other policy and spending proposals including language immersion, transfer legislation, and changing start times for schools. In a perfect world of unlimited resources, each of these meritorious proposals would be funded, and we could move on. In the imperfect world in which we live, however, limited funds for the districts 2012-13 budget will likely require the School Board to prioritize among these proposals. The LOJHS Advisory Committee urges you to make your priorities known to the School Board. There are several easy ways that you can get your message through: Call or send an e-mail message to a School Board member. Click here for contact information. Attend next Mondays public hearing where the Board will be listening to testimony from community members like you about these different proposals. (Monday, 1/30 at 6:00 pm in the LOHS Library) Click here for details.
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Attend the 2/6 School Board meeting at which the Board will be voting on many of these proposals. (Monday, 2/6 at 6:00 pm, Lakeridge HS Library) Thank you so much for your continuing support of Lake Oswego Junior High School. If you have questions, please contact any of us. Sincerely, Julie Carter Tim Morris Kim Motylewski Anne Nudelman Lillian Oppenheimer Stacy Yost

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