Muskego-Norway students can elect their education

Muskego - When Muskego's middle-schoolers sign up for fall classes next month, they will be able to choose from an array of enrichment electives being offered for the first time in addition to regular electives.

Under the sweeping revisions the Muskego-Norway School Board approved last week, the district's two middle schools also will have 16 periods, in a school day that 10 minutes longer, and start language and music in sixth grade, a year earlier than now. The enrichment electives will be offered in the new 25-minute intervention/enrichment time slots.

The intervention/enrichment period will enable the schools to quickly react if a student needs special attention either for academics or behavior. Those who don't need that extra attention will get to take part in the new enrichment electives.

School officials are still firming up the enrichment electives. But at registration, students will choose them right along with their regular electives and other classes. The new enrichment electives will be described in parent-student information nights to be scheduled.

Split 16 ways instead of 7

How the new student day of 16 periods rather than seven periods will work also will be described. The changes will affect grades six through eight.

The seven 53-minute periods will be exchanged for 16 periods, 25 minutes each.

Those shorter periods will be combined into 75-minute classes for math, science and reading/language arts - the core subjects - and left at 50 minutes for other subjects and at 25 for enrichment/intervention/study hall. Because students could be passing to class 16 times a day instead of seven, there will be no bells.

Studied enough?

The district's 38-member Middle Level Program Review Team worked 11 months on reviewing the two middle schools to develop the recommendations. The team consists of parents, teachers, administrators and even one student. It held meetings, did surveys and delved into educational research to see how the best middle schools get results.

The review team barely got its work done in time for the School Board to review the revised middle school program to begin next fall. The board had only two weeks to consider the changes.

That time crunch disturbed School Board member Michael Serdynski, who cast the only vote against the new middle school program.

Serdynski, who was out of the country for most of the two weeks between the time the program was unveiled to the board and the board's ultimate vote, said he didn't feel he had enough time to evaluate it and get feedback.

"It's a substantial program change," Serdynski said. "But the majority felt comfortable and I respect that."

He also noted, "I'm confident the administration would not bring this forward unless it had confidence in it."

The revised program passed 5-1 with Rick Petfalski not able to attend.

Necessary changes

Board member Eric Schroeder said he has confidence in the 38-member committee that researched the current best practices and made its recommendations accordingly.

The middle school program needed adjustments because it hadn't been reviewed in many years, Schroeder said.

Just the 75-minute core classes will be an improvement, Schroeder said, adding that he has always pushed for offering foreign language earlier, as this program does.

The new electives also be more in line with what students want, such as technology and robotics, and that will be helpful, he said.

"The study showed we're behind in the electives kids want," he said. It also shows other districts have those offerings.

The fact that students will have more choice in electives to stimulate them and that they will be able to study Spanish earlier were two factors that School Board member Dean Strom liked about the revised program, although he admitted to still having a few reservations.

He still has trouble seeing how the 25-minute intervention/enrichment electives will work and how a typical day would look.

But he said, "I'm cautiously optimistic."