BASH will institute a nine-period schedule and do away with extended periods (with the exception of Science Labs) in the 2014-15 school year, Principal Brett Cooper announced today.

“We are confident this new schedule will provide all students with what is needed to be successful in a changing world,” Dr. Cooper said.

The new schedule is the recommendation of a volunteer committee of faculty members who studied the results of a survey about this year’s schedule given to parents, students and faculty in April. The results overall indicated:

-The schedule needed to change

-Students and staff would benefit from a daily homeroom

-Extended periods were not popular

-FLEX is beneficial but needed revisions

The new schedule will bring back a daily homeroom at the beginning of the day, followed by 40-minute periods. A “flex” period for students who need extra help in English, math or biology to prepare or remediate for the Keystone Exams is still built in the schedule, but everyone will attend flex during the same 25-minute period in the middle of the morning rather than be divided up among four different periods.

The new schedule replaces the “hybrid” schedule instituted this year, which consisted of four days of 40-minute classes and two days of 80-minute classes in a six day cycle. Only science will have a double period in the new schedule.

The new schedule also does away with weekly early dismissal days that had been built in as faculty planning time.

“The new schedule may be adjusted to best meet the needs of ALL of our students as the year goes on,” Dr. Cooper said.