Parents, students and teachers urge pause on Mountain View block schedule and academy rollout

Dozens of parents, students and staff addressed the Mesa Public Schools Governing Board during public comment to press the district to delay implementation of a block schedule and college-and-career academy changes at Mountain View High School.

Student speaker Lily Astell said the block schedule experience at Mountain View had harmed classroom learning, calling it "a disaster" and saying, "We really struggled to focus in class." Several parents echoed that concern and said they learned of the proposed changes only after they were already being piloted.

Parents asked the board to require clearer, data-driven justification before rolling the program out more widely. Gretchen Astell, who said she has four children in the district, asked the board to "consider delaying the rollout at Mountain View until Mountain View can show that teacher and parents have been involved in the changes, and that the changes are data driven." Anna Eager said she first heard about the…