Verona officials unveil proposed HB Whitehorn schedule to add daily instructional minutes

HB Whitehorn Principal Dave Galperczyk told the Verona Board of Education on Jan. 21 that the district is proposing a new schedule for grades 5–8 that he said would increase instructional time without adding staff. "We're going from a 7‑class, 45‑minute day to 6 classes at 55 minutes," Galperczyk said, describing the change as about "10 minutes of increase in direct instruction" for every class each day.

The proposed model would start homeroom at 8:20 a.m., 10 minutes earlier than the current 8:30 a.m. schedule, and maintain a similar dismissal time. Galperczyk said the plan includes a rotating six‑day cycle so each class appears at different times throughout the rotation, a design intended to prevent a single subject always falling at a student's least-alert time of day.

A major element of the proposal is a new fifth‑grade team model. Galperczyk said fifth grade will use two‑teacher teams (a literacy/social-studies teacher and a math/science teacher) so students experience larger contiguous literacy blocks; over a two‑day span the model is expected to provide about 165 minutes of literacy instruction. He also said world-language and physical-education classes for sixth through eighth grade would alternate every other day to reduce class sizes and increase conversational opportunities in languages.

Administrators told the board the plan would not require additional staff hires or reductions; rather, the district would redeploy current staff to new schedules and roles. "This schedule retains all of our staff members within our building," Galperczyk said, adding that teachers already hold many of the necessary credentials and that professional development will be required to adapt instruction to longer block periods.

Questions from board members focused on compliance and implementation. When a member asked how the district will ensure required minutes for subjects such as ELA are met, Galperczyk and Superintendent Leandie Giuseppe said supervisors will monitor lesson plans and ongoing instructional data. "Our supervisors and… teachers on the 4 teams are going to have to have a lot of ongoing dialogue throughout the year," Galperczyk said.

District leaders acknowledged transition challenges for some teachers who would teach different content than in previous years and emphasized planned supports: curriculum rewriting across grades 5–8, built-in professional-development days and targeted training on new literacy programs. Giuseppe said Doctor Miller is budgeting time to support curriculum work and that the district will use half days and two full professional‑development days to help teachers adapt instruction to longer periods.

Officials also said special-education core supports would be preserved, though delivered differently when the WIN period is removed. Galperczyk noted parents and case managers will be able to discuss how core supports are scheduled under the new model and cautioned that some IEPs might require logistical adjustments to reflect the change in block timing.

Galperczyk said next steps include notifying staff members who would change assignments, community presentations to families, continued curriculum development and logistical planning. The presentation was placed on the board agenda for consideration; the board did not record a formal final vote on the HB Whitehorn schedule during the Jan. 21 meeting.

The district plans to begin the schedule in the 2025–26 school year if the board and staff complete the necessary implementation steps this spring and summer.