Schools Superintendent Eric J. Smith made a bid last week to obtain the blessing of the school board for his plan to switch all of Anne Arundel County's middle and high schools to a uniform four-period schedule.

Although the board will not vote on the schedule - which Smith has the authority to implement on his own - the superintendent held a workshop Friday to present his plan to board members and listen to their concerns and advice.

Smith contends that a school day of four 86-minute classes is more efficient than schedules with more periods because less time is spent changing classrooms and settling down.

Most of the schools use six or seven periods that last 47 or 55 minutes.

In the proposed high school model, students also would be able to take more classes, because they would have alternate-day sets of four classes, or a total of eight classes.

"I will ask the board whether or not they support me moving forward on this," Smith said after the workshop, at which board members asked questions but did not comment on the plan.

"It's definitely not a done deal, and it won't be till the very end."

But some parents and teachers say Smith has made up his mind, and they are angry that they were not given the chance for input earlier.

Smith first asked middle and high school principals to design the schedule nearly four months ago.

Smith received the principals' recommendation on the schedules this month and began briefing people, including representatives of the teachers union. His staff met last week with a council of school-based citizens advisory committees.

Many of the parents who attended that meeting said they felt they had no real say in the matter.

"This process has been completed," said Severna Park parent Leslie Cowing. "We're under their command."

Complaints about the schedules were varied. Some parents said their kids don't need to spend more time on language arts and mathematics, which the new middle school schedule would provide.

Others contended that teachers would have difficulty filling the time during longer classes.

The mood was less combative at Friday's board workshop, although board members peppered Smith and his staff with questions.

"The number one complaint I hear from students is, 'How am I going to stay awake for 86 minutes? I can't even stay awake for 55 minutes,'" student board member Ashley Nathanson said.

Buddy Green, a science teacher at Northeast High School - which already is using the longer periods - said he was familiar with the complaint. "The favorite comment of my students is, 'My brain is full,'" Green said. The 30-year veteran instructor, who was invited by the staff to share his experiences, said he had to adjust to the longer classes by giving students a variety of activities to keep them engaged.

"You lose them when their brain is full," he said.

Other board members were concerned about what it would take to train teachers to handle the longer classes and the middle school schedule's decreased emphasis on science and social studies, which would be one semester, rather than yearlong.

Smith and his staff deflected the concerns, apparently to board members' satisfaction.

Teachers would get about five days of training before the start of the next school year and assistance during the year.

They also said the loss of total instructional time in science and social studies would be minimal.

Several board members said after the workshop that, although they don't have a final say in what schedule is adopted, they will use their influence to make sure teachers receive adequate training and that students are presented with curricula designed to fit the longer periods.

"We can be sold just about any educational ... initiative if it has some seemingly sound thinking behind it," board Vice President Carlesa Finney said.