Morgan High officials report positive early results from five-period pilot; board to vote next month

Student services director Destiny Field and CTE counselor Kylie Rock told the County Board of Education the district's midyear review of Morgan High School's first-year five-period schedule shows mostly positive early outcomes.

"What you're going to see on here is an overwhelming response of positives," Destiny Field said during the presentation. Counselors and teachers reported greater seat time for students and improvements in elective availability. Kylie Rock highlighted scheduling data that helped motivate the change: "over 90 percent of our seniors were not utilizing a 6 period day and to the tune of 50% weren't utilizing a 5 period day," which indicated many seniors were taking fewer classes than the old schedule intended.

Presenters described a blind survey of students and staff, noting gains in elective access, concurrent enrollment taught by in-house instructors, and increased opportunities for tier 2 remediation built into the schedule. Staff also cited operational benefits: small increases in period length and daily seat time have allowed more in-class work and teacher-student connection time, while flex and 0-hour options help align athletics and extracurriculars without reducing credit equity.

Board members supported additional community outreach before a final decision. Several trustees said they want broader parent feedback and time to share the survey results; others said administrators and counselors have already engaged parents individually. Superintendent Dr. Jensen noted the report was intentionally an internal snapshot and recommended a four-year evaluation cycle, with a formal reevaluation planned after the pilot produces multi-year data.