Roundabout Middle School move to a 9-period day would add teachers, new classes under proposed budget

Superintendent Matt Landau described a major instructional change in the proposed budget: converting Roundabout Middle School from an 8-period to a 9-period day, a shift the district said would require roughly the equivalent of three full-time teachers.

Landau said the change would create a sixth-grade health class and a "welcome to sixth grade" course focused on study skills and acclimation. Seventh graders would be offered 10-week electives across a variety of subjects, and eighth graders would gain a more hands-on technology class that Landau characterized as less digital and more experiential. He also said additional art options and expanded academic-intervention access would be part of the scheduling changes.

"At sixth grade level, we're going to add health class for all sixth graders and then another class that's like a welcome to sixth grade," Landau said, describing plans intended to smooth the transition into middle school. He framed the shift to a 9-period day as the budget's principal initiative for the year and said teachers and administrators have been developing course plans for months.

Why it matters: district leaders said the schedule change is intended to expand student choice, protect intervention time for students who need it and give teachers flexibility to offer more targeted electives and hands-on work. The presentation noted implementation depends on staffing hires and final budget approval by voters on May 19.

Next steps: Landau said the district will provide more detail to parents and hold conversations with middle- and elementary-school families before implementation planning continues; any hiring will follow the outcome of the May 19 vote.