“Mom, you know how I told you the kids in my second period
English class never say anything,” my 10th grade daughter said as she got in the car.
“Well, today we talked about going back to semesters, and ohmigosh, the class went
crazy!”
Crazy – I’ll say! Going back to semesters would certainly
be crazy! I asked my high school senior what he thought and he said trimesters were
“the greatest idea ever!” Those are a lot of superlatives from a population not
generally given to much talk about school.
The trimester system is one of those brilliant ideas that came about
by necessity. When Temecula went to a multi-track schedule, something had to give at the
high school level for any kind of matching schedule to be formed. According to Jim Thomas,
a science teacher at Temecula Valley High School who served on the calendar committee that
devised the system six years ago, with K-8 on a three month on, one month off system,
trimesters became a solution for matching schedules without big breaks during high school
course work.
Necessity soon paled though, as light of the benefits became
apparent. “It opened up greater elective schedules for students,” Thomas said.
Whereas students can take 12 courses a year on a semester system, 15 courses are available
with trimesters – an enormous advantage, especially to college-bound students taking
AP coursework or fulfilling requirements for higher system, UC schools.
Students can also accelerate studies as a trimester and a semester
are equal in instruction. So, for instance, in one year, rather than a year and a half, a
student can take three units of language. They can also go on to higher electives, such as
a second year of calculus. Another benefit Thomas has witnessed in his own classes is the
work that can be accomplished with the increased time per period, created by reducing
class periods from six to five per day. “I can run a lab in one period,” said
Thomas, “that couldn’t be run in a 55 minute period. What used to take one and
an half or two days, because of set up and clean up time, I can now do in one.”
Dian Blois is one parent who has done the math of semesters and
trimesters and is up in arms about switching back. First of all, Blois points out, the
school board has added two more courses required for graduation – ASC and geography
– since moving out of the semester system. Throw in the health requirement, and make
PE take a whole year again, and Blois asks, “Will there be enough extra classes to
meet the college requirements?” As happened on the old semester system, UC bound
students had to decide between academics and band, and driver’s education had to
become a private pursuit as students found themselves with the option of only two, maybe
three electives through their entire high school career.
According to Danielle Clark, spokesperson for Temecula Valley
Unified School District, the action item on last night’s school board agenda to
revisit the current calendar system was placed administratively. There is no parent or
teacher or student group that wants a return to the old system. Indeed, according to
Thomas, the district gets calls weekly from across the nation and even internationally,
for information from districts considering changing to a trimester system. What it more
likely comes down to is cost – trimestering requires about four more teachers.
My column will have gone to press before board action, but I will be
looking to see what type of committee is set up. Will it include parents and students who
deal with the realities of scheduling? Will public input be sought? Or, will it just be
about money?
I hope not. This district has been driven by logistics long enough.
If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!