Sky View principal David Swenson and assistant principal Joel Allred met with parents and students Thursday night at the Newtown town hall. It was the fourth of five cottage meetings — an informal get together where everyone could talk about Sky View high school, it’s future and how it could be improved.

Schedule changes

After Swenson introduced Allred and himself, he opened the meeting by asking if anyone has a question. After a slight distraction about European school systems and baseless proposals by state senators, the group settled into a discussion over the school schedule. The first question revolved around possible improvements to the school schedule.

“Why only 5 periods instead of 6?”, asked a parent. Could the school schedule be altered to allow more electives? Allred said that whatever schedule the school follows, it must meet the requirements set by the State of Utah for graduation. The new requirements coming online now are for all students is to take four English, 3 math and 3 science units for graduation. These new requirements leave less room for electives.

So could the schedule be altered to meet the requirements and still offer more electives?

Several options were discussed.

Mountain Crest, for example, offers a flex period. The student must choose what they will be doing during the flex period. It isn’t a goof-off period. Some choose to use it as a homework hour, others sign up for electives.

Another possibility would be an 8-period block schedule. Eight classes offered with only 4 classes per day. So a math class could be taught on Monday, Wednesday and Friday while an English class could be Tuesday and Thursday.

Or a modification to the 8 period block is to alternate weeks. Using the previous example the math class would be taught Monday, Wednesday and Friday the first week and Tuesday and Thursday the alternate week. The reverse would be true for the English class.

A big concern over the block schedule is that the students wouldn’t see their teacher every day. If they missed a day of school, it would be at least two days before they would see their teacher again. Making up missed work could be more difficult.

The school could leave the schedule the same. It is working and may be the best option. There are many opportunities the students already take advantage of in the current system.

Concurrent enrollment with the University is one such program. More than 6500 credit hours of concurrent enrollment was earned by the graduating class last year.

Swenson said they are always looking at how to make a school of 1500 students feel smaller. To give each student the best teacher-to-student ratio and balance the electives to their benefit. The number of students remain the same no matter what schedule they would use. Class sizes might be increased to accommodate more classes. This isn’t necessarily a negative to switching if it is balanced out other factors.

Any changes to the schedule would be done carefully and with public input. It would take time, but it is something Swenson said they were considering.

Long distance learning

One parent expressed concern over Long Distance Learning classes. These classes are taught by a teacher on a remote site who sees the class over a video-conferencing system at the high school. There are advantages in using this system in teaching specialized classes. It may be impractical for one district to hire a highly qualified teacher for only one subject. However, that teacher could be hired for remote teaching to many districts. Thus a highly specialized subject could be offered where it wasn’t available before.

The parent was concerned that the students wouldn’t get the same benefit as having a teacher in the classroom. Also, with budget cuts looming, would the long distance learning system be used to cover classes that should be normally taught by an in-house teacher.

Swenson responded that the long distance learning system was intended to augment the curriculum, not replace teachers. They also told the audience that full-time facilitators are used in each video-conference class to help the students locally.

Budget concerns

The discussion turned again to the schedule. Two-years-ago Governor Huntsman asked educators to think outside the box. Many different ideas were floated including holding schools from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. and allowing students to choose their own schedule.

Or why are we teaching 180 days? Why not 220 or year-round?

Whatever the answer to these questions — and many go way beyond the scope of the Sky View school itself — any changes will cost money. And this year the State of Utah is looking at a possible cut of five percent funding. For Sky View this would be a $2 million cut.

There are federal grants offered that the school might be able to apply for. But it will require jumping through more hoops. The State of Utah would have to agree to pursue the program. Sky View would have to apply. And even then there is no guarantee.

Swenson said they want to keep up the high quality of education currently offered and it is challenging with the current economic climate.

In the end, Swenson said their top top priority is to provide teachers the time they need to collaborate with students. That quality education that feels like it’s coming from a small school even though they are a large one.

Counseling services

One parent said there was a disconnect between the parents, students and the counseling services offered by the school. Allred agreed that many students are not aware of what’s available to them.

Another parent asked the administrators if they could offer a first-time high school parent a kind of roadmap to the services available at the school. Others agreed with the idea. Allred said they offered something kind of like that before, but no one showed up.

Swenson said he worked in a previous school where they offered a day-long “academy” for all new students. It was a day where none of the other grades came to school. Only the freshman (in this case a 9-12 school) came that day. They would be given a tour of the school, meet their teachers and administrators, discuss what expected of them, and answer their questions.

A “Bobcat Academy” could be started at Sky View. Parents could be invited to attend as well. But instead of just following their students around — which may not be what the student wants — they could be given a separate discussion about what parents can expect and what resources are available.

Or what about a parents only meeting with the counselors to discuss available services, options for the students, and scholarships they could apply for. Allred said there are always scholarships left up to the counselors to decide what to do with because no one applied for them.

Everyone agreed that improving communication between the school and parents is needed.

One more cottage meeting

There were many other subjects discussed during the cottage meeting. Of course, nothing the administrators or parents talked about are meant to be new policy. The cottage meetings are only discussions to help the administrators and parents understand each other, to “bat around” ideas, and to hopefully give direction to the future of Sky View.

One more cottage meeting is planned for this school year. It is scheduled for Wednesday, March 31 at the Hyde Park Civic Center starting at 7 p.m. It is open to the public and everyone is invited to attend.