After considering potential cuts in state and federal education support for the 2011-2012 school year, Oak Harbor School Board officials proposed two scheduling changes that could soften the blow of losing seven to 10 teachers and save the district about $60,000 per year.

In short, board members are discussing shortening the length of the middle school day by 30 minutes and implementing a kindergarten program that consists of full-day classes meeting on alternating days of the week.

The middle school proposal seeks to battle the state’s elimination of K-4 Enhancement, which currently provides funding for 10 teachers in Oak Harbor. The loss of 10 teachers would increase class sizes in the district by as many as two to three students though most classes are nearing maximum levels already.

“I think the question is do we want to increase class sizes or do we want to look at some alternatives,” Assistant Superintendent Lance Gibbon said Monday night.

To avoid upping class numbers, the district is considering reducing the middle school schedule from seven periods to six, making the total length of the school day 30 minutes shorter. According to Gibbon, this move would allow the district to eliminate six teaching positions without affecting class size.

Currently, one of the seven periods each day is used as a teacher planning period. However, while teachers have their planning periods, students are still in school, and therefore an extra teacher is needed to cover during those periods. If the planning period was scheduled after the kids had been released for the day, those extra teachers would not be needed.

The middle schools would retain four periods of core classes and two electives under the new plan, but students would lose the extra period designated for extra help and reading enhancement. The total instructional time would change from five hours and 43 minutes as it stands now (seven periods at 49 minutes each) and would make the total instructional time five hours and 15 minutes (six periods at 52 minutes each). School would start at 8:15 a.m. and end at 2:15 p.m., which would cause the high school to start 15 minutes later, at 8 a.m., due to busing changes.

The kindergarten proposal is a small part of a group of ideas being suggested to alleviate a $500,000 discretionary cut that must be made within the district to help balance next year’s budget.

The existing half-day kindergarten program requires buses to run mid-day to all five elementary schools. This costs the district roughly $60,000 a year for the transportation of 75 students. If the full-day program was implemented, that cost would be diminished. 

Under the full-day plan, kindergarteners would be on an A/B schedule and attend school every other Monday, and then either Tuesdays and Thursdays or Wednesdays and Fridays. The all-day format would add 15 minutes of educational time to each school day which would add about three weeks’ worth of extra time to the school year.

“There are drawbacks to this plan in that there’s less consistency in the schedule,” Gibbon said, “but on the flip side, we increase instructional time.”

Some board members brought up concerns with the proposed format, pointing out that students who depend on a school lunch would only receive it two or three times each week and students who attend on Tuesdays and Thursdays could be out of school for a while if Monday fell on a holiday. 

“Just watch what happens to kids that go five days without school,” board member Gary Wallin said, whose own son was in an A/B kindergarten program.

Additionally, board members brought up the issue of finding full-day childcare on students’ off days.

Two additional options were also presented by the board Monday night. For a fee, students could attend full-day kindergarten five days a week. The current fee is set at $259 per month, but that number could change next year. The last option would be to continue offering half-day kindergarten five days a week with no transportation provided. Parents would be required to drop off and pick up their children. 

Fourteen states currently require all-day kindergarten programs and Washington is expected to require such a program by 2018.

Though the board members did share some skepticism with the proposals, most seemed to applaud the administration’s creative thinking.

“From first glance it looks like a great idea, there’s only so many ways you can sharpen a pencil, and there’s only so many ways we can eliminate the financial burden without adversely affecting our students,” board member Dave McCool said.

The board plans to take action on both items at their next meeting on March 14, though the kindergarten vote may be postponed. A forum will be held at 6 p.m. Monday, March 7, at the school district headquarters for the public to share their opinions with the board. School district officials plan to send out notices to parents and affected community members, such as daycare providers, as soon as possible.