Teachers and union press board to settle contract after block-schedule changes

Dozens of teachers, union leaders and parents urged the Middlesex Borough School District Board of Education on May 20 to settle an expired teachers’ contract and address what staff called an unauthorized increase in instructional time after the district implemented an 84-minute block schedule at the high school.

The dispute centers on schedule changes at Middlesex High School. Gary Brenner, a high school health and physical education teacher, told the board that high school teachers now teach three 84-minute blocks daily — 252 minutes of instruction — compared with the prior six 40-minute periods (240 minutes). “Twelve minutes doesn’t seem like a lot, but over 180 days those 12 minutes add up,” Brenner said, and he calculated that the total amounted to roughly 2,000 extra minutes this school year — about 35 hours of instruction, or five school days.

The issue has become a focal point in broader contract talks, speakers said. Mark Kohlhofer, vice president of the Middlesex Education Association, said the district has operated…