Dear Beloit Memorial Families,

As we enter the last lap of the school year we have many events coming up ranging from award events to the big day of graduation. We hope to see you at a variety of the events and we are pushing for a strong finish to the 2012-2013 school year from your student.

In this newsletter I want to share with you some potential changes to the master schedule at BMHS for the 2013-2014 school year. If you have been following the news you are aware that the legislature and governor are currently attempting to finalize the 2-year state budget. The state of education funding is currently at issue and we are anticipating the need to make more budget reductions through employee attrition. The actual budget may not be finalized until well into the summer so we are planning for various scenarios depending on what happens with regard to per pupil funding.

The administration at BMHS is committed to the following when it comes to making budgetary decisions:

1. Maintain current class sizes or lower where possible

2. Not cut programs/course offerings

3. Achieve budget cuts through attrition and in-district transfers, not layoffs

4. Maintain the integrity of the 5-Block schedule

In order to achieve these priorities and make necessary budget reductions given the state of the budget bill, something will have to give. As it stands right now the preparation time for teachers which is currently 80 minutes per day will be reduced to 40 minutes per day at both middle schools and the high school. While this is not optimal it is our only option to maintain the priorities previously listed.

The change in the teacher schedule will also mean a change in our daily schedule here at BMHS. Currently, the plan is for the official teacher contracted day to be from 7:45 AM to 4:00 PM. The student day would be 8:35 AM to 3:45 PM.

What about dropping students off?

Currently, students are allowed to enter the building at 7:20. Next year, students will most likely be able to enter the building close to the same time as normal; however, that time is to be determined. We are committed to allowing parents who currently drop off early not to be inconvenienced.   Students may be in the building studying, visiting the library, eating breakfast or meeting with a teacher prior to the start of the official school day.

What about sports and athletics?

Practices can start when the teacher work day is complete. This means that currently they can begin at 3:45. Next year they can begin at 4:00. The 15 minute change is not going to significantly affect our sports programs.
 

What about students missing more class time for athletics?

This is an unfortunate reality with us having to travel to the Madison area for many games in our conference; however, there are ways to mitigate the impact. Working with our counseling department to make good scheduling decisions during the last block of the day can help. In addition, Mr. Seils is looking to propose a new course to the school board entitled, "Strength & Conditioning for Athletes" which students could potentially be scheduled into during the last block of the day. Overall, we are confident that the later dismissal will not significantly affect athletic programming.

What is good about a later start?

There have been several studies commissioned on the topic of start times for high school students. The research is very conclusive that later start times are much better for high school age students. Specifically, start times that range from 8:30 to 9:00 AM have been found to be the superior to earlier start times. Research has shown the students perform better in school and achieve higher grades. In addition, schools with later start times have seen reductions in tardies, truancy and behavioral issues. We have addeda link
linksto the newsletter (see right) so that you can see some of the research that has been done on the benefits of a later start time.  While it is not my intention or wish to reduce teacher preparation time, given the state of our budgetary situation, it is the only option that keeps the priorities of class size, 5-block flexibility and course offerings/programs. We seek to do everything in our power to put the student first.

In closing, while we continue to meet the challenges facing education, we note there are many things to be proud of here at Beloit Memorial. This week we had the opportunity to host 9 teachers, administrators and school board members from West Las Vegas High School in New Mexico for 2 days. They were visiting because they heard great things about BMHS. They were interested in our innovative 5-block schedule, our work with literacy intervention and our massive amount of course offerings. I cannot begin to tell you how impressed they were with our school climate and all of the improvements that have been achieved in a relatively short window of time. They left wide-eyed and ready to take many of our practices back to their school and district.

We have hosted over 25 school districts and individual schools at BMHS in the past couple of years. Today we will be hosting the Green Bay School District. Sometimes, because it is familiar to us, I think we forget how unique and fortunate we are when it comes to what BMHS offers to the community. It certainly helps to have so many wishing to visit, wanting to learn our practices, and working to emulate our successes. I cannot tell you how proud I am when our visitors, time after time, talk about what a wonderful school we have. If you happen to know of a naysayer when it comes to Beloit Memorial High School, I encourage you to do this. Tell them to call me and schedule a time to come in and take a full tour during the school day. They will learn a lot more than they ever could have from reading a blog or listening to untruths that a few like to perpetuate.

I am proud to be a Purple Knight and I hope you are too.

Sincerely,

Dr. Thomas Johnson

Principal