...there were a non-judgmental forum for making suggestions at school?

Over the past few weeks I have openly discussed some of the various issues at University City High School. I do not presume to be the only one to notice these issues - nor do I believe I am the only one to bring them up. However, since there is such a lack of consistent communication at our school, I felt the need to bring to light some of the problems I see as diminishing the potential of this great school.

37 years ago, UCHS was built by people with beliefs and ideas about how to change the education available to students in West Philadelphia. At present, I believe we are failing at that mission, partially because we do not collaborate enough on the hard solutions that would really get to the cure instead of providing proverbial Band-Aids to fix the symptoms. I have come to realize that my posts only continue in that vain and are not making the kind of difference I had wanted them to so I am ending them.

I challenge all of you: If you read even one of these emails take some time to think about how you could be fixing the real problems at UCHS instead of just brushing them under the rug to never deal with them in the future. Work with your fellow staff and collaborate on projects that might end up benefitting the school more than you have ever dreamed.

In order to foster this idea I have created a new Google account that all of you can access using my newest email address. I have done this so that suggestions will remain anonymous unless the suggester wants to add his or her name. In the Documents section for this account there is a document named "How to make UCHS better." I recommend you follow the instructions below to navigate to this document, add to it, and keep tabs on it so that these suggestions can be implemented. And if they are not, talk to someone who should be fixing them.

Instructions:
1) Go to http://docs.google.com
2) Login with the following info:
Email: wb1682
Password: uchs1682
3) Click on the document in the window labeled "How to Make UCHS Better"
4) View/edit/add to the document at will
5) When done, click the "Save & Close" button in the top-right corner so others can do the same

...announcements didn't waste so much time?

For a school with the types of problems our does, we want to maximize the amount of instructional time we have with our students. It's hard enough as it is for students who lose 6th and 7th period every half day and often for other assemblies to catch up to their peers with earlier classes. When the myriad of announcements are added to the list of interruptions, it becomes almost incomprehensible for teachers to effectively teach the students. Announcements are important - but they should be consistent in when they happen and as concise as possible. During advisory is the best time for lengthy announcements as it has been built into the schedule. The last five minutes of 7th period is okay for short ones and last-minute ones. Anything in between should be short and sweet.

...each class were allocated an equal amount of time during the school year?

Half days have their issues and we all understand that. Students are sometimes less likely to focus on instruction because they know they get to leave early. Teachers sometimes view them with dismay because periods are often shortened and very little effective instruction is possible (especially if students arrive 10-15 minutes late and stop working 5-10 minutes before the end of the period). It is for those reasons that we must balance the classes affected by a half day at school. While periods 1, 3, 4, and 5 are currently allocated 181 days of instructional time, periods 2, 6, and 7 are either shortened or cut during half-days, reducing class time by a full 7 days! How are teachers expected to keep up with the Planning and Scheduling Timeline for these classes if they are not provided with the same number of class days? A more balanced system would alternate half-days, alternating periods 1-3 (with a full period 2 block) and periods 4-7. This would at least guarantee that all classrooms were somewhat created equal.

Minimum number of hours of instruction per school year: http://www.pacode.com/secure/data/022/chapter11/s11.3.html

If you do the math on this one, 990 hours of instructional time divided by 180 days (including half-days) = 5.5 hours per day. So if a half-day provides roughly 2.66 hours of instructional time (they even get lunch time on half-days!), that means we are shortchanging our students by 2.833 * 7 = 19.833 hours over the course of the year. Nice job, school!