BELLVILLE — A disagreement over the high school bell schedule could lead to arbitration between the Clear Fork Valley Local School District and its teachers union.
Representatives from the Clear Fork Valley Education Association (CFVEA) say a change to the high school bell schedule, implemented this school year, has led to unequal planning periods for teachers, shorter teacher lunches, more study halls and fewer class offerings for students.
“This schedule has many consequences that are not conducive to the overall success of our students, our teachers, or the school district,” a statement from the CFVEA read.
CFVEA representatives told Richland Source the union has offered mediation at no cost to the district, but the offer was declined.
“We have attempted to resolve this in every way possible but the district refuses to reconsider this schedule,” the statement read.
“Taking this issue to arbitration, which will incur costs for both our union and the district, is our last resort.”
High school principal Jennifer Klaus and interim Supt. John Thomas said the district did not accept the mediation offer because it isn’t an option outlined in the union’s contract.
The district’s collective bargaining agreement with the union lays out a four-step process for handling grievances. It starts with a meeting with a supervisor. If the grievance is denied or the CFVEA isn’t pleased with the outcome, it can request to meet with the superintendent. Further steps can include meeting with the school board and then going to arbitration.
“Clear Fork has a collective bargaining agreement in effect that governs the terms and conditions of employment which the teachers and the School Board are bound to follow,” Klaus said. “The agreed upon contractual grievance process does not include a choice of mediation.
“Therefore, the parties are obligated and compelled to honor and follow the terms and conditions of the contract including the dispute resolution process.”
Thomas said the grievance was brought to the school board, which voted to reject it.
“When we investigated the claims, we didn’t find those things happening,” he added.
Neither the union nor the administration was able to say exactly how much arbitration will cost.
“There is no set cost for arbitration,” Klaus said. “While arbitrators charge a predetermined daily rate, there will necessarily be additional costs associated with a court reporter and attorney fees for the Union and the School Board.
“We remain optimistic that the pending grievance can be resolved prior to arbitration.”
Thomas said the district’s meeting with the arbitrators is scheduled for mid-December.
What changed?
For more than a decade, Clear Fork operated on a block schedule with three 80-minute periods in the morning, followed by four 40-minute periods. The three morning periods were semester-long classes. The 40-minute periods could be year-long classes or combined to offer semester-long classes in the afternoon.
This year, the administration opted to tweak those times, reducing student lunch time by nine minutes to create the following schedule:
Mod 1: 84 minutes
Mod 2: 82 minutes
Mod 3: 82 minutes
Mods 4A and 4B: Students are split into two groups. Each group has a 31-minute lunch and a 41-minute study hall.
Mod 5: 41 minutes
Mod 6: 41 minutes
CFVEA representatives say every student is now required to have a study hall during their 4A or 4B period, eliminating a time slot for students to take classes.
When asked about study halls, Klaus said it’s not actually mandatory that every student has a study hall, though most do. Music theory and choir are the only classes offered during the 4A/4B period.
Klaus, who is in her first year as high school principal, said the changes to the high school schedule were designed to improve students’ overall educational experience.
Klaus said that moving study halls to the 4A/4B lunch hour allows students to seek assistance from teachers. She also said students can use those times to participate in assemblies, class meetings and clubs while minimizing interruptions to instructional periods.
“We have observed a rise in student engagement and an increased interest in clubs and activities during lunch and study halls, likely due to these schedule changes and our new cell phone policy,” Klaus said.
“This year, we introduced a PBIS Student Leadership Team and a Bowling Club.”
Meanwhile, the CFVEA claims the schedule changes have also led to reduced class options during other periods.
Nicole Walker is the parent of two high school students, both of whom are identified as academically gifted.
Walker, who works at Butler Elementary as a reading specialist, said both her children weren’t able to take certain electives because of schedule challenges.
Her son has two 40-minute study halls every day.
“There’s a lot of courses that are not being offered because there’s not that many time slots in the day,” Walker said.
“The problem with my son is that being a senior and being advanced, he has already taken everything that they’re offering.”
Walker’s son also has two online college courses in the morning that only meet three days a week. The other two days, Walker said he sits in an assigned room and essentially has two back-to-back 80-minute study halls.
“My son and daughter cannot be the only ones negatively impacted by this,” she said. “I want this fixed for all kids.”
Klaus said the district doesn’t have any morning study halls, but confirmed are some kids enrolled in college courses that don’t meet every day.
“Kids that are in the college courses have a set place to be, whether they’re logged in working on that course at that time or not is up to that kid,” Klaus said.
“But it’s not actually a study hall. That should be their work time to be working on their college courses.”
Changes lead to unequal prep time among teachers
CFVEA representatives Kourtney Kucirek and Ed Kossick said the lack of electives in the afternoon has led to students leaving the high school for other educational opportunities.
“Because we’re not offering electives and they can’t get into electives, they’re going to Pioneer (Career and Technology Center). They’re going to Knox (County Career Center) or they’re taking College Credit Plus,” he said.
“We are losing on every front. There’s no reason to stay.”
Klaus said she’s heard the opposite.
“Teachers have shared that they appreciate having both core and elective classes offered at the end of the day,” Klaus said. “One staff member noted that having these classes scheduled later in the day has helped keep students in school until the end of the day, rather than signing out at lunchtime.”
Klaus argued that with several new course offerings, students actually have more options than before.
“We expanded our course offerings to include Entertainment History, Intro to Latin American Culture, Renewable Energy, Exploring Anatomy and Physiology, Extended Geometry, and a new drone licensing program (Part 107 Remote Pilot Certificate) within our Vocational Agriculture Program.”
Klaus said she’s received positive and negative feedback on this year’s schedule changes.
One shortcoming of the district’s new schedule is that teachers went from having a 40-minute lunch to a 31-minute lunch and that not every teacher has equal prep time.
Under the Ohio Administrative Code, schools are required to provide full-time K-12 teachers with at least 200 minutes per week of “prep time” for preparing lessons, evaluating student progress, conferencing and team planning.
But under the current schedule, some teachers are getting 41 minutes a day while others are getting 45 or even 52 minutes. Kucirek said some are getting less than the 40 minutes required by the union’s contract.
Kucirek said the discrepancy is leading to bitterness and resentment among the teaching staff.
“We’ve got some veteran teachers that don’t plan on coming back because of this,” she said.
The CFVEA also said some teachers are also spending more time monitoring study halls and there are more teachers working lunch duty, which results in less time teaching.
Klaus didn’t argue that point — but said the change was a response to overcrowded study halls and understaffed lunch periods.
“It’s a safety issue if you don’t have teachers out monitoring during lunch duty,” she said.
Thomas said having more teachers administering smaller study halls, rather than having one large one in an auditorium, gives educators a chance to connect with students and help them with their work.
