Souhegan High Considering New Schedule

Could a new schedule await future students at Souhegan High School?

A scheduling task force has been working since summer to see if a new schedule would give students more flexibility in their course choice, increase time between classes and provide more sensible lunch times.

Task force members have narrowed the options down to three possible schedules for the school that they presented to the Souhegan School Board last week. (See attached PDFs for more details)

All of their proposals have a “skinny” period that is the same time as a normal block, but never meets for a double-block length of time. Every period is scheduled to be between 45-110 minutes.

These changes would allow students, such as those in band class, to have a period where they can practice and not have to meet after school, as is the case now.

Task force leader and Souhegan physics teacher Nathan Carle said that they are also considering what a schedule would look like if the high school extended its school day.

The proposed schedules also move lunch to later in the day for students who feel that their lunch block is too early in the day. They also increase passing time to 4 minutes between classes instead of 3 minutes.

The group must consider other factors that could affect their work, including a shift to an hours-based school year, new team configuration and ATC students.

Souhegan also offers six courses, while schools in neighboring communities offer 7-8, which is another issue the task force is working to address.

The task force will now be drafting a proposal to present next month before presenting it to community council.

Board member Steve Coughland said that any new schedule could help many students, but cautioned that a whole new set of students may be displeased with the change.

“This could bring a whole new set of problems,” said Coughlan.

Any changes to Souhegan’s schedule would not happen until the 2013-14 school year, if any at all. The current schedule has been in place for about 20 years and could stay if the proposed schedules don’t measure up.

“There is no perfect schedule out there,” said Carle. “If there was an ideal, every school would do it. We are looking for what might be better for Souhegan.”