I assume Baltimore County School Supt. Dallas Dance has in mind nothing but the best for county students and staff, however his limited classroom experience may have led him to a flawed decision on schol scheduling ("Baltimore County to change high school schedules, Oct. 29).
Moving to an eight-period school schedule, on top of recent system-wide curricular changes, on top of major changes to teacher evaluation procedures is, in my opinion, a grave mistake. Before leaping into this and forcing every teacher and student to follow he should step back and study the issue more thoroughly.
I know from experience that teaching six periods a day can be exhausting, particularly when teaching various levels and/or curricula. Student learning can be adversely affected by less time in each period. Even excellent educators, if placed on unstoppable speeding treadmills, will reach a breaking point where they are no longer able to provide the great teaching they yearn to give their students.
During my long teaching career, I had the privilege of working with two dedicated principals who each chose to actually teach a class themselves every day. The practice kept them personally abreast of what truly worked for their students and themselves -- and at times led to modifications in the requirements they imposed on teachers.
They earned my deepest respect for having done so. I recommend that if this new schedule change goes forward, every administrator who concluded that an eight-period schedule is the way to go be directly involved in daily classroom teaching for a year to personally see and feel how it works.
J.L. Steinberg, Baltimore