Grenada High School will hold classes in a new way this coming school year.
The Grenada School Board discussed and approved a new block schedule for the 2022-23 school year during its monthly board meeting held last Tuesday at the Central Office Downtown.
Grenada School District Superintendent Dr. David Daigneault said that he is eager to see the different opportunities this new schedule system will have for the students.
“On a normal schedule, you have seven periods during the school day and students will take seven classes over the school year, and these courses go all year long,” Daigneault explained. “On a block schedule, you can take four classes first semester and four classes second semester, and that gives you a total of eight classes for the year.”
With the new schedule set in place, students will be attending each class for a longer period of time.
“One of the advantages of having this block schedule is that students will be in a classroom for around 95 minutes, so instead of changing classes six or seven times a day, they will only change classes four times and that means less downtime for the students,” Daigneault said.
Several years ago, this way of scheduling was brought up and most Board members were in favor of the idea and very interested in the way of teaching, but there was a lot to learn about how the system operated.
“We looked at this several years ago and we felt we weren’t quite ready to put this into play just yet,” Daigneault said. “Emily Tindall, principal of Grenada High School, believes this will academically help our students in a tremendous way.”
Academics are the District’s No. 1 reason for the change in the school’s schedule.
“This is all driven by academics,” Daigneault said. “Of all of the top performing high schools in the state, all but two are using the block schedule.”
Helping the students prepare for college is the goal for Grenada School District.
“We want to help our students and want them to perform well, and want them to score well,” Daigneault said. “This is more aligned with what they are doing in college because the courses are set up as a semester instead of a full year. This gives a student who may struggle with one course to have an opportunity to take more classes similar to focus their attention on that certain subject.”
Over the summer, the administration and teachers will participate in some extensive training to prepare for the school year.
“This is a little bit different,” Daigneault concluded. “Teachers are used to having students for half the time and now will be teaching them for a longer period of time. This training will help get them ready for the students come Fall.”
“Grenada School District is in the business of helping students reach their goals,” Daigneault added. “Those that need extra studies in between school, summer classes will still be available for students.”
