Board approves new MLHS schedule

MOSES LAKE - For the 2014-15 school year, the first class at Moses Lake High School will start at 7 a.m. and the last class will be dismissed at 5 p.m. That was the option approved by the Moses Lake School Board at its last meeting.

Students will have the choice of classes from 7 a.m. to 2:15 p.m., 7:55 a.m. to 3:10 p.m., 8:50 a.m. to 4:05 p.m. and 9:45 a.m. to 5 p.m. That was the recommendation of a committee working on the new schedule, and it was approved by a 5-0 vote of the school board.

Students will be in class for seven 55-minute periods during the day, with an eighth period for lunch, district superintendent Michelle Price said.

The new schedule is one of the options adopted in an effort to reduce overcrowding at the secondary level. It came after a yearlong series of discussions, and about five months of work by the committee asked to build the detailed schedule.

Mark Johnson, the district's director of business and operations, said the building was built to hold 1,500 to 1,600 students. Projected enrollment for 2014-15 is 2,383 students.

Board chair Connie Opheikens said she didn't - and doesn't - like the idea of extended schedule. But she was persuaded to support the change by visiting the high school, seeing the conditions during class breaks and lunch and talking to teachers, she said.

Board member Allan Burritt said he doesn't like the extended schedule either, but it's the best option available now. Burritt and Opheikens praised the committee's work, saying they met the challenge of completing a difficult task in a short time.

The committee also recommended revised graduation requirements to fit the new schedule.

Price said a maximum of 28 credits will be available for students with the seven-period schedule, and the committee recommended requiring 25 credits for gradation. That would bring the school district in line with new state standards under consideration by the Washington Board of Education, Price said. The school board opted to approve the committee's recommendation, rather than waiting until the next meeting.

In other business, board members voted to roll over Price's contract, giving her three years. The contract is structured so that the board can extend it one year at the expiration of each year.