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Lee Bernison Middle School proposes schedule changes, adds Project Lead The Way STEM courses
Summary
Principal Shaw and staff described proposed schedule adjustments at Lee Bernison Middle School to give students longer blocks in exploratory courses and to add two Project Lead The Way classes — Automation & Robotics for seventh grade and App Creators for eighth grade — while preserving music options.
Principal Shaw and Lee Bernison Middle School staff outlined proposed schedule changes and new STEM coursework at the Westlake City School Board work session on March 10.
The presentation described a shift away from short, rotating exploratory classes toward giving students fuller, five-day blocks in courses they choose. Principal Shaw said he has led the school through multiple scheduling formats: "I've been at Lee Bernison for this is 8 years now," and staff cited limits of the current model in which many exploratory classes met only two days a week for a single quarter.
The change is intended to address what school staff called insufficient instructional time under the current model — an example given was that a quarter-long exploratory class that meets two days per week amounts to roughly 18 class meetings in a year, before accounting for absences or snow days. Under the proposed schedule, students who choose music could still take it five days a week; other students could choose fuller sequences of STEM, world language, health or physical education instead of being split between multiple short exploratories.
Staff described the district’s established Career Connections class and said they will keep it while layering in two Project Lead The Way (PLTW) offerings next school year: Automation & Robotics (described as a seventh-grade, hands-on problem-solving course) and App Creators (described as an eighth-grade course teaching students how to design and build mobile/web apps to solve problems). The presenters said those PLTW courses are intended to pair with Career Connections and give students deeper, multi-week project time rather than brief exposures.
The committee that reviewed scheduling recommended keeping music opportunities intact (including allowing students to take more than one music class) while eliminating the practice of rotating students through many short exploratory modules that staff said limited depth and continuity. The presenters said exploratory teachers showed renewed enthusiasm for teaching when given the chance to deliver longer sequences and to “sell” their courses to students.
No formal board action was taken at the work session; staff said the schedule changes are planned for next school year and will be developed and communicated to families as the calendar and staffing are finalized. Board members asked about parent and student reaction during scheduling meetings; staff said new sixth graders have no prior comparison and that feedback from current families included particular excitement about STEM options and algebra placement opportunities.
Staff also noted operational details to be resolved, such as which electives will be available for students who choose full-time music, and how staffing will be assigned across teams. The presenters said they expect to bring final course and schedule proposals to the board in follow-up meetings before implementation.
The presentation closed with board appreciation for the proposed emphasis on applied learning: teachers and board members framed the change as an opportunity for middle-school students to apply problem-solving skills in both traditional shop-like work and modern technology contexts.
