Niskayuna panel outlines middle school redesign: 70-minute blocks, dedicated teams, transition events

NISKAYUNA, N.Y. — School district staff on April 28 told the Academic Programs Committee of the Niskayuna Central School District that a planned middle school redesign for 2025–26 will move both middle schools to a block/mod schedule, create stable grade-level teams with dedicated special-education support and stage transition events for students and families.

District staff said the scheduling subcommittees that began meeting in late December and early January have largely settled on a block schedule with roughly 70-minute blocks and two 35-minute “mods” built into each block. "Every kid is going to get what they need, and hopefully, some of what they want as well," said Jess (staff member), who led the update.

The change is intended to increase flexibility for electives and ensembles, create longer periods for project-based learning and reduce transitions that staff said consume instructional time. Tim (staff member) told the committee the schedule also creates opportunities for special-education teachers to be assigned to specific teams so that students on a teacher’s caseload have similar academic schedules; that alignment, staff said, should allow common planning time and enable resource-room support without repeatedly pulling students from other classes.

District staff said they have sandboxed sample schedules in PowerSchool and tried to schedule students with the most complex needs (resource-room, stand-alone ELA, multiple ensembles, AIS). They reported those mock schedules can accommodate required services while preserving electives and study hall time. The district will share mock schedules at the June committee meeting.

Staff said the tentative start/end times will shift about 20 minutes to improve after-school logistics and reduce students missing class for sports: current middle-school bus arrivals are about 8:40 a.m. with dismissal at 3:15 p.m.; under the proposed plan Iroquois Middle School would dismiss at 3:05 p.m. on certain days to ease athletics conflicts. District transportation staff told the committee some routes lengthen by roughly 10 minutes under the change.

The redesign also includes stable "teams" by grade. The district intends three full teams each in sixth, seventh and eighth grade; each sixth-grade team will include ELA, math, social studies, science and a reading teacher plus a designated special-education teacher, staff said. Seventh- and eighth-grade teams will include special-education teachers and, because of an additional counselor hire, a counselor assigned to each team.

At Iroquois, district staff said they will continue to operate a full continuum of services for grades 7–8, including consultant-teacher support, resource rooms and several self-contained offerings (communication/"SPIRE" services and a social-emotional classroom). Van Antwerp will host sixth-grade programming and two self-contained classes (RISE academic-skills and a communications class) as part of space planning tied to upcoming capital work.

To help students and families adjust, staff described a series of events: a student mixer and orientation days for current sixth- and seventh-graders, information nights for families (May 27 for Iroquois; June 2 for incoming sixth-graders at the high school auditorium), and a new district tradition called “Miski games” scheduled for June 4 to bring fifth graders together. Staff also said the district launched a web page, has been sending emails to families and will stream/record the large information nights.

Committee members asked about recess for sixth graders and study-hall access. Staff responded that students will retain recess and that study hall slots remain available though some students may trade study hall time for mandated intervention services. Staff emphasized that mods in the block schedule can be used for shorter, frequent instruction (for example, resource-room support) so students need not miss other academic opportunities.

What the committee heard: staff framed the changes as a move toward more project-based and multidisciplinary instruction and as an operational shift intended to standardize schedules and services across campuses. They said they are continuing teacher professional development to support longer-block instruction and will present mock schedules and more concrete implementation steps at an upcoming meeting.

Speakers listed in the committee discussion included Jess (staff member), Tim (staff member), Tom Fibe (staff member), Matt Petren (staff member), John (staff member), Cynthia (staff member), Zoe (staff member/questioner) and other district administrators who participated in planning.