Above-average class time unlikely to change for Amphi high schoolers

Canyon del Oro and Ironwood Ridge high school students may face changes in their school hours, but only if their principals choose to.

For now, the principals don’t appear to have immediate plans, though an advisory committee spent the past several months exploring possible changes after it was found that Amphitheater’s three high schools were spending more time in classrooms than their peers in the Tucson area.

The amount of extra time varied for each high school, with Amphitheater High being closer to the state-required minimum, which is 720 hours a year. Canyon del Oro was spending what amounted to six to seven additional weeks in instructional time.

The district’s Governing Board, with the exception of Scott Leska, who wanted the issue further explored, and Julie Cozad, who wasn’t there, voted Tuesday night to essentially keep things the way they are, which is to allow each school’s leaders to decide what is best.

It’s not all wasted effort though, says Kent Barrabee, Governing Board member, who repeatedly said during the meeting that the board is not in a place to make administrative decisions that require expertise, and that’s best left to the school leaders.

The “benefit of this exercise,” meaning the time spent by 20 committee members who explored the issue over the past several months, was heightened “awareness” of instructional hours, he said.

Tina Mehren, the parent who brought the issue to the surface and served on the committee, disagreed. “It’s a shame,” she said. “I think it’s an act of cowardice from the board.”

Mehren, whose daughter attended CDO, argued that the district is not choosing what is best for students because changing would involve moving around too many pieces, including transportation and programming. “More is not always better. There is a point of diminishing returns to time in the seat.”

The committee drafted recommendations, which included:

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• Reducing instructional hours and changing full-time status to five classes at CDO;
• Changing full-time status to five classes at Ironwood Ridge and;
• Ending school earlier at Amphitheater High by reducing passing and lunch time.

All of those came with a caveat: “Each high school continues to have autonomy to develop their site schedule,” the recommendation presentation said, meaning the committee could not come to a consensus about a single recommendation for all of the schools.

Mehren and others who spoke during public comment said while the committee was made up of competent educators and a variety of members, including students and teachers, there were issues with how the committee operated.

For example, a $200,000 figure was being cited as a downside to changing instructional hours, but the breakdown of that money was not fully explained, they said.

An August presentation to the committee by Scott Little, the district’s chief financial officer, said that should CDO and Ironwood Ridge change full-time status to five classes instead of four, the 195 students currently taking four or fewer classes would lose full-time status, which would result in an annual loss of $221,454.

Also, a survey was supposed to take place to get feedback from teachers on what they thought, but that never happened, Mehren and others, including board members, said. Patrick Nelson, the district’s superintendent, argued that the survey was to be conducted should the recommendations actually take place.

Amphitheater Principal Jon Lansa told the Star in May when the committee formed that he thought the hours at his school were appropriate. The school’s schedule, he told the board Tuesday, was carefully crafted three years ago with more professional development for teachers as one of the key goals.

Four Ironwood Ridge teachers took part in the advisory committee, said Natalie Burnett, that school’s principal. Those four people don’t necessarily represent all of the school’s teaching staff, which is more than 80 people.

CDO Principal Paul DeWeerdt told the Amphi board that while he is certain there is a “sweet spot” in terms of how much time is optimal for learning, the committee hasn’t found it. He added that it’s “counterintuitive” to think that less time in classrooms would somehow translate to better learning.