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Richardson ISD proposes shift to 7/8-period secondary day to save staffing costs and increase daily practice
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Summary
Superintendent and staff recommended moving middle and high schools from a 90-minute block schedule to a traditional 7- or 8-period day, citing $4 million (middle) and $7 million (high school) projected savings, more daily practice for students and operational alignment with area districts; trustees requested benchmarks and implementation details.
Richardson ISD leaders presented a plan to move secondary schools back to a traditional 7- or 8-period day, arguing the change will increase daily instructional practice and produce staffing savings while requiring targeted supports for students and teachers.
During the April work session, Superintendent Branham told trustees the proposed change aims to improve consistency for students and reduce resource intensity tied to athletics double-blocking. "One of the benefits of a traditional 7 period day is daily skills and less decay of learning — when you learn something today, you're back at it tomorrow," she said.
Staff said the schedule change is projected to produce about $4 million in district savings at the middle-school/junior-high level and roughly $7 million at the high-school level, primarily by reducing teaching allocations over time through attrition rather than layoffs. "It's purely staffing allocations," finance staff said in response to trustee questions.
Miss Bates, the district scheduling lead, outlined how the model will be implemented: sixth-grade RLA will remain double-blocked for literacy foundations; middle/junior-high math will include double-blocked intervention for students below Meets on STAR (including Algebra 1); daily advisory periods will support organizational skills; and PLC (professional learning community) time will be preserved for core teams. The transition will also add 10 minutes to the day at junior-high/middle-school campuses to meet required CTE minutes and advisory needs.
High-school changes would reduce eight periods to seven while offering optional 0-hour courses for students seeking extra credits; athletics scheduling would shift so that double-blocking would no longer be standard. Staff emphasized that course catalog availability would not be cut and that junior/senior release periods would continue where eligible.
Board members pressed for more detail on timing, class size impacts and whether savings will materialize immediately. Staff said savings may take up to two years to fully realize because they rely on retirements and resignations to reduce allocations. Trustees asked staff to provide benchmarking against neighboring districts, additional modeling of class-size scenarios, and clear parent-facing communications. Staff said a website and FAQ bank will go live the morning after the meeting and campuses will tailor schedules to local lunch-period constraints.
Implementation supports include targeted professional development for teachers moving from 90-minute blocks to 45-50 minute periods, Canvas/instructional coach supports for lesson design, counselor and advisory resources to help students manage transitions, and campus-level customization to address lunch and transportation constraints.
Trustees did not vote on the change; staff requested board direction to continue modeling options and return with a recommendation for adoption in the budgeting and scheduling process.
