The good news for Clarkston students next year: only five classes a day.
Perhaps less than good news: each will be 72 minutes long.
Clarkston Board of Education approved a trimester plan for the junior and senior high schools. Instead of two semesters a year with six classes each day, next school year will have three trimesters, five classes a day. Trimesters will be about 60-days long.
The Trimester Implementation Team is still working out details. A possible schedule next year: Sept. 2-Nov. 24, Dec. 1-March 9, and March 12-June 12.
According to the plan, most classes will be two trimesters long, leaving the third trimester open for electives and remedial classes.
Exceptions include Advanced Placement classes, which will all be three trimesters long, and music classes, which can be two or three trimesters.
The school board voted 6-1 to approve the plan. Treasurer Ronald Sullivan voted against, citing concerns with loss of elective opportunities for AP students, other advanced courses that may be shortchanged, and new programs coming online, such as the International Baccalaureate program.
“Things have changed since this information was first presented,” Sullivan said. “My concern is that we’re going to trimesters too quickly.”
The switch is in response to more rigorous state graduation standards. The implementation team has been working on it since last year.
Students and parents will receive details of the program after the holidays, as well as assistance in working out their schedules, said high school Principal Vince Licata.