May 27, 2010
CLEVELAND HEIGHTS, OH - A Message from Superintendent Heuer:

Our District will see important schedule changes in all levels beginning next year. This will impact students from K through 12th grade.

As many of you know, we have been seeking ways to enhance the educational quality and the breadth and depth of learning experiences for all students. Thanks to a team of administrators and teachers working together, we have come up with a plan which will work best for students, teachers, and our community. The new schedules will significantly increase the amount of instructional time in order to take full advantage of a high quality curriculum being taught by a very skilled professional staff in the Cleveland Heights-University Heights City Schools.

The new schedule will increase instructional time by 185 minutes per week in elementary schools and eliminate the Tuesday early dismissal. It will create a uniform school day at each of the three middle school buildings to accommodate block scheduling, and allow for a full 8-period day at the high school. Lastly, it ensures that our transportation department can accommodate both elementary and middle school needs.

• English Language Arts, 2 hours 15 minutes; Mathematics, 90 minutes; Social Studies/Science, 45 minutes
  
• PE, two 35-minute sections weekly
  
• Media, every other week for 45 minutes; on opposite weeks, a science specialist would provide a 45-minute science inquiry based lesson.
  
• Art, 45 minutes weekly
  
• Music, 45 minutes weekly
  
• Eliminate morning recess - Grades 1-3
  
• All students K-5 continue to have a 60-minute lunch/recess period daily

The middle school day will begin at 8:05 a.m. and end at 2:50 p.m. every day.

All 3 middle schools have reorganized the instructional day to allow for block-scheduling of language arts and math in grades 6-8. The extension of these courses from 42-minute periods to 84-minute blocks daily will allow remediation, enrichment, and acceleration to occur directly within language arts and math classes. It will also allow science and social studies teachers to thoughtfully offer block classes as appropriate. The alignment of elective offerings across the district will ensure that all of our middle school students are able to access courses which will best prepare them for high school and beyond. New elective offerings, like our Multi-Media courses and the 8th grade Introduction to French and Introduction to Spanish courses will ensure that our middle school curriculum is aligned to the District vision of P.A.S.S.A.G.E. (Preparing All Students for Success in a Global Economy).

The high school will go from a 7-period day with an optional 35 minute study period to a full 8-period day. The day will begin at 8:25 a.m. and end at 3:33 p.m.

With the additional instruction time afforded in the new schedules, I am confident we will have adequate opportunity to implement our high-quality curriculum with instructional integrity. So again, I thank all of our teachers for supporting this plan, and our dedicated, thoughtful Board members for voting to implement this plan. I have no doubt the additional instructional time will significantly improve student achievement.

We will begin this new schedule at the start of the 2010-2011 school year. Please click here for important dates regarding next school year.