Mountain View parents and students mount opposition to school schedule plan that slashes elective time

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The Mountain View Whisman School District’s move to change its middle school bell schedule is running into substantial opposition from some parents and students, who are speaking out against a plan that would reduce the number of elective periods.

The district is looking to overhaul its schedule at Graham and Crittenden middle schools this fall, in an effort to set aside more time for core academic subjects and to carve out consistent time for lessons on social and emotional skills. The change comes as test scores have dropped and behavioral issues have grown coming out of the pandemic.

The current proposal is to shift from eight to seven periods, which would mean that students would generally take two electives at a time, down from three currently.

Parents and students are pushing back, raising concerns about the decreased time for electives, as well as longer block periods that would be added two days a week. Some have also pressed for more information about what social-emotional learning would entail. Beyond the specific concerns with the schedule itself, many parents and students have objected to not being consulted earlier in the process and not being given more of a voice in the decision.

“They released this potentially huge change,” middle school parent Mohan Gurunathan said in an April 1 interview. “They just informed us about two weeks ago, and then they’re already acting like this is a done deal.” 

An online petition started by a student that advocates for keeping the current schedule has picked up more than 650 signatures on Change.org as of Thursday afternoon, and over 250 people attended a Zoom town hall on the topic this week hosted by Superintendent Ayindé Rudolph. At that meeting, the parents and students who spoke were nearly uniformly against the new schedule.

Rudolph has stressed that the impetus for the change came from teachers, who he said believe students need dedicated instruction on social-emotional skills, as well as more time in their main academic subjects.

At the town hall, Rudolph said that he didn’t feel enough attention was being paid to the impact of increasing time for core classes.

“That is an important aspect of it, because we do send our kids to two very competitive high schools, and we want to make sure that all of our kids are prepared for high school,” Rudolph said.

The new schedule would retain the same start and end times for the school day, but by eliminating a period, there would be more time for each of the remaining classes.

During the town hall, Rudolph portrayed the meeting as being about gathering feedback on how to make a seven period day work, not whether to make the switch itself. That upset some parents, who felt that they weren’t included in the process until the decision was already made.

Electives are one of the things that our kids really love the most about the school system – and they’re taking that away.”

Mohan GUrunathan, Middle school parent

Evangeline Cheung, who has a child at Crittenden, said that she attended the town hall to learn more about the change after first hearing about it from her daughter and her daughter’s friends. Cheung said she became frustrated and troubled by what transpired at that meeting.

“It’s really about the way it was handled, the lack of communication,” Cheung said. “We were under the impression that there’s still a number of things that are pending, but when we went to the town hall meeting it was presented as ‘This decision has been made, we’re not going to debate whether they are going to change the schedule or not.'”

Rudolph told the Voice that the schedule will come back to the school board at its May 2 meeting, but that it will be the board president’s decision whether to take a formal vote on the schedule or leave it as a staff-level decision.

In the coming weeks, Rudolph said the district plans to present data and other information to parents to make the case for the new schedule from an academic and social-emotional standpoint. 

Reducing time for electives

Middle schoolers have five core subjects: English, social studies, math, science and PE. Under the current eight-period system, they typically have room to pick three electives. With seven periods, there would generally be space for two electives.

This has upset some parents and students, who point to the value that electives provide students.

Marta Bellet, whose daughter is in seventh grade at Graham, told the Voice that she thinks it’s wrong for the district to take away time from electives. These classes give students a sense of belonging and motivation to go to school, Bellet said.

“Every elective they choose opens a door for them, (and) they didn’t know what was behind that door – it opens a world for them,” Bellet said.

Bellet’s daughter has taken Spanish and art since sixth grade. Her daughter wanted to continue with both subjects next year, as well as enrolling in leadership, Bellet said, but now she will have to choose.

Jasper, a seventh-grade student Graham, said he is interested in taking Spanish next year, but also wants to continue with choir and jazz band.

“I definitely enjoy both of them, so that would be hard for me to give one of those up,” he said, adding that he is opposed to switching to a seven period day.

Mohan Gurunathan, who has a daughter at Graham, similarly objects to removing an elective period.

“That’s really upsetting, because electives are one of the things that our kids really love the most about the school system – and they’re taking that away,” Gurunathan said.

While most kids would still have space in their schedule to take two electives at a time, some would only have room for one elective. This is the case for students who are learning English and take an English Language Development class, and for those with disabilities who take an instructional support class. Currently, students who take one of these classes have space for two electives. Under the new schedule, they would have room for one.

Students who take both ELD and an instructional support class already only have room for one elective, but that would stay the same with the new schedule, which district officials said was a top priority. The plan is to design a combined course that is co-taught by both an ELD and special education teacher, so that there would still be a period left open for an elective, Chief Human Relations Officer Tara Vikjord previously told the Voice.

I’m just like all of you, where I believe that electives are important for students to explore subjects, and also to feel connected in school.”

Superintendent Ayindé Rudolph

At the town hall, Rudolph said that 22 students would have only one elective with the new schedule, and that almost all other students would have space for two. In response to questions from the Voice, the district clarified that the 22 students Rudolph was referring to are those in both ELD and instructional support, who have one elective under both schedules.

Another roughly 320 students have either an ELD or an instructional support class, according to district spokesperson Shelly Hausman. These students will also see their elective periods reduced from two to one.

Ian Ryan is the parent of one of these students. His daughter attends Crittenden and takes an instructional support class. Next year, she will have to choose between continuing with either Spanish or art, a decision that other kids won’t have to make, Ryan said.

“She’s already telling me that she’s going to be struggling, just because the day is going to feel so much heavier for her,” he said.

District officials have consistently emphasized that all students will still be getting at least one elective. Rudolph has also said that as the parent of a middle school student himself, he knows the conversations that parents are having with their students, who are upset about losing an elective.

“I’m just like all of you, where I believe that electives are important for students to explore subjects, and also to feel connected in school,” Rudolph said at the town hall.

What made him support the schedule, he said, was that teachers believe it will be worthwhile.

He added that the district is open to exploring options to allow students to fit in more electives, including an A/B system, in which electives would switch off throughout the week, and semester or trimester-long electives.

Expanding time for core classes

By removing a period and expanding time for the remaining classes, Rudolph said that teachers feel they could help address some of the academic impacts that the pandemic had on students.

Mountain View Whisman has seen its students’ academic performance slide since COVID-19 prompted school closures. Last school year, roughly 64% of students met or exceeded state standards in English language arts, down from 71% in 2019. In math, 58% of students were hitting or surpassing state benchmarks, versus 64% in 2019.

The drops have been much steeper for kids who come from low income families. Only 31% of these students met or exceeded state English standards last year, compared to 44% in 2019. By comparison, for students who were not socioeconomically disadvantaged, 80% met or exceeded English standards last year, compared to 86% from 2019. Disproportionate drops have also been seen in math scores.

Having a seven period day would give each student the equivalent of three more weeks of instruction per year in each class, according to the district’s calculations.

“That number to me, right there, I think is significant and important to maintain student achievement,” teachers’ union President Mick Newman told the Voice. “Personally, as a teacher, I’m in favor of it.”

Newman teaches science at Crittenden and was on the committee that created the schedule proposal. 

In some ways, the seven period schedule is similar to what the district has had in the past. Until 2018, the district used a seven period schedule. Rudolph and Newman both also pointed out that many neighboring districts use a seven period schedule with two electives, including Los Altos and Palo Alto.

Dedicated time for social-emotional learning

The new schedule would set aside 37 minutes on Thursday afternoons for an advisory period. This could be used for competing items like filling out surveys, as well as for consistent social-emotional instruction, according to district officials.

Parents have raised questions about why specific time is needed for social-emotional instruction, as well as what the lessons are going to look like. The district hasn’t released specific curriculum or plans for how these classes would be structured.

“It could be very beneficial to all students, or it could be beneficial to a small set of students – but we don’t know what it is, so it’s really hard to say whether the plans are supportive or not,” Cheung said. “On the flip side, we know that at least with the electives, it’s been very beneficial to the kids.”

Rudolph told the Voice that coming out of the pandemic, discipline data and survey results about students’ feelings of social isolation show a need for this instruction. He said the lessons could cover topics like communication, conflict resolution, stress management, bullying and digital literacy.

It’s still being decided who will lead the lessons, but it could be teachers, the district’s counselors or potentially a third party provider, Rudolph said.

Regardless of who is doing the teaching, he said that the district is committed to not running the lessons over Zoom, which was a concern some parents raised. According to Rudolph, all of the district’s mental health support is done in person.

Instituting block periods

Another point of concern for some parents and students is that the new schedule would include longer block periods. 

Currently, students attend all eight classes on Mondays followed by six classes each day for the rest of the week, with a different two periods skipped each day.

Under the new schedule, students would attend all seven classes on Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays. Wednesdays and Thursdays would be set aside for longer, roughly 85-minute block classes. Odd-numbered periods would meet on Wednesdays; even-numbered periods would gather on Thursdays.

Some believe that these classes will be too long for middle school age students to maintain focus. 

“I just feel like 85 minutes for a math class, it’s a very long time,” Bellet said. “(For) an 11-year-old, it’s too much for them.”

District officials have responded that teachers will build “brain breaks” into their classes and structure the lessons to keep students engaged.

For Newman, having longer block periods will make it easier to get through science labs, and he said that English and social studies teachers will have more time to run activities like Socratic seminars.

Rudolph has also argued that incorporating block schedules at the middle school level will help prepare students for high school. The Mountain View Los Altos Union High School District has 90-minute block periods four days a week.

Some parents have pushed back, saying that students will be able to adjust when they get to high school, just like elementary schoolers adjust when they get to middle school.

Concerns about communication

A common point of frustration among parents who oppose the schedule change has been the district’s communication around the decision.

The school board received a report about the potential for a new schedule at a March 14 meeting. Rudolph told the board that a committee of teachers and administrators had convened to review schedule options. He presented three schedules to the board members, all of which had seven periods and included a weekly advisory class. Rudolph pointed to one of the options as the choice that the committee favored.

No members of the public turned up to provide comments, and the board was broadly supportive of the committee’s preferred option.

That schedule was the one that has subsequently been presented to the community. According to Rudolph, the district told parents and students about the new schedule only after the district got board input at the March 14 meeting. 

School staff met with certain classes of students and held virtual meetings with parents to present the new schedule.

At the April 1 town hall, Rudolph said that it wasn’t the time to debate whether seven or eight periods are better, but rather to gather feedback on how to make the new schedule work.

Parents interviewed by the Voice objected to the district not giving them a heads up earlier and soliciting their input.

For Cheung, it felt like the district was brushing off parent and student concerns at the town hall. Cheung said that she is open to the idea that teachers may have concerns they want to address with the new schedule, but that the district hasn’t clearly presented its rationale or given parents a seat at the table. She also noted that students have circulated multiple petitions opposing the change, which have garnered hundreds of signatures.

“The students really care and they’re really passionate about this – and we really should not just brush them aside,” Cheung said.

When asked about his comments at the town hall and parents’ feeling they weren’t consulted until the decision had already been made, Rudolph told the Voice that he understood that parents wanted to weigh in and could see where issues arose in the process. At the same time, he said there was never going to be an open vote of all parents.

“We probably read the room wrong in terms of what the appropriate level of engagement was,” Rudolph said. “But the idea that everyone needed to agree in order for us to move forward, I think that has always been one of the misconceptions.”

Rudolph also emphasized that this was a process led by teachers and school-level administrators, rather than originating at the district office. For this reason, he said that there wasn’t the same communication stream that the district typically uses for its decisions.

Some parents have questioned the district’s claim that teachers were driving the process.

Newman, the teachers’ union president, confirmed to the Voice that teachers had been included in the decision-making process. According to Newman, an announcement was sent to staff at both middle schools telling them that a committee was being formed to review bell schedules and inviting them to apply.

 “We were extremely involved, we’ve been involved every step of the way,” Newman said.