“Our schedule is a ballpark about twenty years old,” said Principal Patrick Clark. The current six class schedule that exists at Barnstable High School has been in place for more than two decade and based on Clark’s metaphor, is overdue for renovations. 

“This schedule is unique to BHS and doesn’t exist anywhere else,” Clark said.

  For the 2018-2019 school year a seven-class schedule will be implemented. This schedule will also be a five day fixed schedule, similiar to the existing schedule. 

An increase of customization is a benefit that will be seen with the new seven class schedule, Clark said.  He and the entire leadership team worked on developing a schedule that would meet the diverse needs of students.

The new schedule has T.G.A. scheduled twice a week for 26 minutes. Daily attendance will be taken during the second period every day. Important anouncements will also be shown on B2B during that time. 

Classes will meet four times a week for either 55 or 74 minutes. There will be six classes a day on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. On Tuesdays and Thursdays when
T.G.A. meets, only five classes will meet those days. 

To enable students to participate in an internship or dual enrollment, C and D blocks and G and F blocks will always be back to back. 

“A seven-course schedule can diversify a student’s transcript and provides them access to electives for a full high school experience,” said  Clark. 

Semester classes in most departments will be offered for the 2018-2019 school year. These classes will allow students to try a new elective they may have previously not thought of adding to their schedule. Courses will be offered in areas such as wellness, art, information technology, computer science, and cybersecurity (See related story on page 12).

“Semester classes will diversify the program of studies and allow students access to opportunities such as project lead the way in engineering,” said Clark. 

Students will be able to “go outside their comfort zone and take a class for half the year, this allows students to try a class without having to commit to a whole year,” Clark explained. 

As students and teachers become familiar with the schedule in the next couple of weeks, Clark said he will be available to answer any questions and provide additional information in writing to students and their families.