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Moscow school staff propose six-period day and lowering diploma credits to state minimum; students and teachers push back
Summary
Moscow High School staff proposed dropping the daily schedule from seven to six periods and cutting the district graduation requirement to 46 credits to reduce student and teacher loads and give more time per class. Students and teachers urged more data and broader engagement; the board took no vote.
Moscow — Trustees of the Moscow School District on Thursday heard a proposal from high school staff to move the high school from a seven-period day to a six-period day and to change the district graduation requirement from the current 51 credits to 46 credits, the state minimum.
Superintendent Sean explained the board’s role is primarily to set credit requirements and introduced Eric of the high school counseling team to present the proposal. “Right now we offer seven credits per semester for a total of 56,” Eric said. “What we’re looking at is moving to a sixth period semester… which would drop the credit requirement to 46.” He said the aim is to reduce student and teacher workload while increasing the time available in each class for remediation, enrichment and lab time.
The proposal, the presentation said, is intended to preserve the school’s overall instructional minutes so start and end times and bus schedules would not change. Administration said modeling shows a six-period schedule can increase weekly class time (in some bell schedules by as much as 40 minutes per class per week), which they said could be used for deeper instruction and remediation. The district also reported that roughly 60% of staff surveyed favored aligning the district requirement with the state minimum.
But multiple current staff and students urged caution. A science teacher speaking as a group representative said the process felt rushed and that staff and students had not been adequately surveyed or given full context: “The process feels rushed,” the teacher told the board, and asked for more data before the board moves from discussion to a formal first reading. Freshmen who addressed the board said students were not consulted broadly; one student, Mackenzie Wayne, said, “If we were in this room it would be overflowing with students that do not like it.” Students warned that cutting an in-day period would reduce the number of electives they can take and could limit opportunities to explore interests in arts, languages and specialized electives.
Board members also questioned the effect on students who take college courses at the University of Idaho and on scheduling singletons and rare electives. Administrators noted that the district currently requires more PE and world history credits than the state; under the proposal some district-required credits would be reclassified so students still have course breadth. The administration also raised concerns about growing use of IDLA (the state online-course provider), noting that IDLA tuition for districts is rising (from about $40 to $100 per course) and suggesting the board consider policy limits so students do not take online courses that the district already offers in person.
No formal action was taken Thursday. The superintendent and staff asked the board to treat the presentation as discussion only and to allow further review; the board signaled it will take more time to collect additional student and staff input and may revisit the issue in a future meeting. Eric said he and the counseling team are available to return to the board with additional information.
