Rolling block schedule could allow students to take LG classes

Though the final details of a new schedule that will begin in 2016-17 will be worked out in coming months, the district is hopeful of having both Los Gatos and Saratoga High on similar schedules that will allow students to take classes on the other campus.    

Robinson said one reason the schedule is being postponed until the 2016-17 year is to figure out how it might affect course selection for students.

The Los Gatos course catalogue boasts significantly more classes than the one for Saratoga because Los Gatos has more students compared to Saratoga.

When Robinson was a principal of a school in the San Diego area, he saw the popularity of Career Technical class, such as Video Productions, Engineering or Auto Shop. The classes were almost always something offered at the end of the day."

The classes at Los Gatos that may possibly be available to SHS students could be the Career Technical classes not offered at Saratoga. Such classes include Woodworking, Aerospace Engineering and Introduction to Fashion Style Merchandising.

According to Robinson, most classes that would be shared between schools would be focused on electives instead of AP courses due to health and practical restrictions. Robinson said that both schools have about the same AP offerings, so he sees no need to offer classes of that rigor.

“What we want to manage for our students is keeping them academically challenged and healthy,” Robinson said. “Having been in high academic schools that shared students back and forth, I don’t foresee [taking AP courses] as a situation.”

Also, the electives must fit into students’ schedules. For example, Robinson would not approve of a schedule where a student is taking period 1 at SHS, period 3 at LGHS and then must drive back for period 5 at SHS. He would approve of schedules that allow for enough time for commute between schools.

"Because transportation is needed, we would also limit it to students that drive with parent permission and other safety waivers in place," Robinson said. "So we would limit possible exchanges for periods 1, 2, 7 or 8."

According to Robinson, most class exchanges would be based on where students can fill in. He predicts that scheduling would be a challenge that would have to be worked out between students and their counselors.

“Say, for example, a student likes fashion design, and Los Gatos offers a fashion design elective,” Robinson said. "It would have to fit into your schedule. That’s the one sticky point. Does it happen a lot? No, but it opens up the opportunity.”

Since it might be inconvenient for students to take classes at Los Gatos, Robinson expects there to only be a few students who would utilize this option.

"I don’t expect there to be more than five or six students a year that would do it," Robinson said. "We already have a lot of opportunities for students right here. Most everyone wants to take classes at their own school."

There will be a district-wide committee consisting of parents, students, teachers and administrators from both Los Gatos and Saratoga who will come up with a recommendation for both schools to shift to the same bell schedule. The committee hopes to finish formulating a strong schedule by November.

“We want to be prepared for what the schedule change will offer and how it will affect our curriculum,” Robinson said. “If we have a few less minutes that we’re seeing of students each week, what will that change? It may change some things and it may not.”

According to Robinson, the schedule might not be the rolling block originally envisioned, since “the committee may make some suggestions that we have never even thought about, so it may be in a different format than we’d previously expected.” Robinson hopes to still maintain teacher collaboration and maybe have a later start.

However, whatever implementation the committee decides on in ‘16-17 is going to be student-centered in an attempt to lower student stress levels, he said.

“Our hopes would be that the the final result would have some elements of the rolling block schedule, and if we are able to share bell schedules with both schools, there could definitely be some cross-pollination between schools,” Robinson said. “If we could make that happen, that would be fantastic.”