Corkran Middle School Principal Chris Truffer is looking for music, foreign language and physical education teachers.

Kevin Dennehy, the principal at George Fox Middle School, has hired an art teacher and a technical education instructor.

Like Truffer and Dennehy, principals at all 19 county middle schools are busy shifting teaching assignments and hiring staff so that all their pupils will be able to take physical education and fine arts in the fall.

For years, the courses have not been required for county middle schoolers, but that will change in the next school year when Anne Arundel schools - prodded by community activists - begin offering a middle school curriculum that complies with state law on electives.

In addition to the required courses, the county will continue its "Balanced Literacy" program of extended language arts instruction for the sixth grade and will expand that program to seventh grade.

In general, the changes mean more courses in music, art, physical education and language arts - and fewer technical education and family and consumer science classes. But the composition of classes will differ at each school, depending on the pupils' class selections and whether the school will have a four- or seven-period day, instead of the six-period day that has been used by most middle schools.

New assignments

County school officials told the state school board last week that overall, they expect to have approximately 11 fewer technical education teachers and eight fewer family and consumer science teachers in middle schools, compared with this school year.

None of the affected teachers will be laid off, but some might have new assignments in the fall, said Ken E. Nichols, director of instruction for the Arundel and South River feeder systems.

He said some teachers who are state-certified to teach in another area might be reassigned to that field.

"Individual school principals are working to make those alignments, so that teachers will be allowed to stay in the same school they're currently teaching in," Nichols said. "And where that's not possible they can be put on an excess-teacher list and could be placed at another secondary school."

Filling vacancies

At Corkran Middle School in Glen Burnie, which will run on a seven-period schedule, the principal, Truffer, said he's trying to fill vacant teaching positions in physical education and foreign language. He also needs a full-time chorus teacher and a part-time general music teacher.

With the need for more elective teachers, Truffer said some of his core subject teachers will fill instructional gaps.

For example, he's tapped a social studies teacher to pick up science classes, and a math teacher might split his time between math and science.

Truffer is reducing the technical education and family and consumer science educators from one full-time and one part-time for each course to two full-time teachers who will cover both courses.

'Supply and demand'

At George Fox Middle School in Pasadena, which will have a four-period day next year, the principal added an art teacher and family and consumer science teacher to his staff.

"Our staff roster should be based on student demand," Dennehy said. "Because of the supply and demand factor being different at each school, you're going to have shifts" in teaching assignments.

As middle school pupils pick up additional courses next school year, the Teachers Association of Anne Arundel County plans to monitor how the changes affect teachers.

Association president Susie Jablinske said the impacts will be different depending on a school's schedule.

Under the four-period day, classes will run for 86 minutes, with one period for electives - a different one every three days.

Under the seven-period schedule, classes are 47 minutes, with two periods for electives each day.

Jablinske said the increased class sizes predicted under the new schedules should decrease with the 40 additional teaching positions included in the County Council's budget passed last week.

"The [school] board requested 55 positions, they got more than half," she said. "We're hoping it will alleviate the most severe problems as far as the class size is concerned."