Park Junior High presents nine‑period schedule with daily advisory and new flex period

Park Junior High administrators presented a proposed nine‑period bell schedule to the La Grange SD 102 Board of Education that would give all students a daily 30‑minute advisory, add a ninth‑period flex for music and targeted academic support, and provide science and social studies every day.

The proposal, introduced by Dr. Jerome Green, principal of Park Junior High, and Tyler Kendall, assistant principal, is designed to align middle‑school periods with the high school schedule, increase elective and intervention access, and create consistent period lengths across the day. Dr. Jerome Green said the redesign follows a design principle he summarized as “form follows function,” and described how the plan would give students “a 30‑minute lunch. They have a 30‑minute advisory every day.”

Why it matters: The district presenters tied the schedule changes to three goals in the district strategic plan — raise high‑school readiness, increase student engagement and agency, and expand curricular electives and enrichment. The schedule would replace the current long/short period model (48/72 minute split) with equal increments (around 44 minutes each) and a 3‑minute passing window, and would extend the middle‑school day by four minutes so the school day would run roughly 8:30 a.m.–3:30 p.m. under the proposal.

Key details - Period timing and structure: Monday/Tuesday/Thursday/Friday would use nine equal instructional increments with a daily 30‑minute advisory. Wednesdays would remain a shortened, restructured day to accommodate department/grade‑level or whole‑school meetings. - Flex period: The ninth period is proposed as a flexible block that can host band, orchestra and chorus rehearsals, targeted reteaching, social‑emotional learning (SEL) supports, affinity groups or homework completion. Presenters described a default “home base” for students so every student is assigned a supervised location during flex rather than being free to roam. - Intervention and planning: Presenters said the new schedule would make it easier to move students into interventions and to create common teacher collaborative planning time. Tyler Kendall described the current schedule as locking intervention supports into the AM/PM pattern and said that “the current AM/PM locked pieces…is a disservice to our students that have those higher needs of supports.” - Electives and student choice: The plan would move the district away from mandatory trimester rotations for unified arts; staff described plans to survey students about elective interests and to offer more differentiated elective options (examples given included gardening, weightlifting, dance, history of rock, improv and targeted music topics).

Staffing, space and costs - Additional staff: Presenters said running daily science and social studies will require hiring staff. They estimated a need for roughly two additional science teachers and two additional social studies teachers, and stated a likely net FTE need of about three teachers (presenters described the 3–4 FTE figure as an estimate). Presenter attribution: staffing numbers and FTE estimates were given by the Park Junior High presenters (Dr. Jerome Green and Tyler Kendall). - Bilingual needs: Presenters noted a desire to recruit bilingual science and social studies teachers to support dual‑language programming. - Space constraints and referendum: Presenters warned that running band, orchestra and chorus simultaneously would create temporary space demands (three rehearsal spaces are needed but the building currently has one dedicated band/orchestra room). They said passage of the pending referendum would make space changes easier; the referendum was confirmed as appearing on the April ballot by district staff during the meeting.

Concerns and implementation risks - Teacher concerns: Teachers and staff expressed anxiety about shifting from 70+ minute blocks to shorter periods; presenters said they will offer summer planning, visits to schools with similar schedules and additional collaborative planning time to support teachers through the transition. - Operational details unresolved: Presenters repeatedly said details of how flex would be scheduled, how attendance would be taken during flex and whether teams would rotate weekly or quarterly are still to be worked out with teachers. They suggested a phased approach (fixed homerooms or routines at the start of the year, then gradual choice as students learn routines).

Context and related district topics - SEL and climate: Earlier in the meeting parents and committee members discussed social‑emotional learning, bullying surveys and family engagement. A member of the public, Joanna Lago (identified in public comment), said the district should pair its climate data with a norm‑referenced “5 Essentials” measure to avoid becoming “data rich but information poor.” Lago praised the presentation and said the two data sources “might really coincide really well together.” - Pilot programs and curriculum: District staff also announced pilot work on K–8 literacy materials (benchmark/other vendors) and upcoming family workshops on online safety (Jan. 30). Those items were discussed separately but presenters noted the schedule change connects to instructional time and curricular choices.

Next steps Presenters asked the board to place the schedule proposal on the committee‑of‑the‑whole agenda on Feb. 6 or at a regular February board meeting (date to be finalized) so the board could consider a formal action item. Presenters said hiring steps should begin once the board gives direction, to ensure time to recruit bilingual and content teachers if the board approves the model.

Ending Park staff described the proposal as an effort to increase daily instructional consistency, expand electives and build more structured intervention time. Staff emphasized remaining operational work — finalizing the flex model, attendance processes and space arrangements — and the need for board direction before implementation planning intensifies.