After a year of executing a new block schedule that many staff members were not in favor of, Middlebrook School officials are expressing excitement about what they believe will now be a better alternative plan for next year, with shorter periods, a longer lunch, and each academic class meeting every day.

Board of Education Chair Ruth DeLuca solely voiced her skepticism about the plan as it was discussed at last Thursday night’s, June 6 meeting, citing worries about not enough time devoted to English Language Arts (ELA) with a return to shorter periods, as well as a lack of time for lessons in general.

“I have some big reservations … and I don’t want to not lay them out,” she said.

“I just worry about ELA,” she said. “I worry about how it was two blocks and then it was one block of 60 minutes, and now it’s down to one block of 48 minutes,” she said.

Middlebrook officials, including Principal Jory Higgins and math teacher Michael Kaulins sought to quell her concerns.

“We had an informal meeting after school yesterday … That meeting was overwhelmingly positive,” Kaulins said. “Folks were very excited to have classes back every day. That was something we felt the loss of.”

“The staff was also very appreciative of a 45-minute lunch,” he said, noting that there were various tasks that the extra time would help accommodate. 

“Just any extra little pockets of time that folks can have to get the business of the day done,” he said, “whether it’s phone calls, catching up on email, running to the copier to get something ready for the next period, folks were very excited about that 45 minutes. So I am glad to report, I’m happy to report, that we have a very happy staff that’s excited about this proposal and ready to move forward on it.”

Higgins described the changes as “more of a tweak” to the current schedule.

“We added some significant minutes to the STRIDE period, so that instead of the 30 minutes that it is this year, it’s going to be 45 minutes,” he said.

“The academic classes … instead of meeting four days out of five, it’ll be every day,” he said, noting that the times will still rotate throughout the week.

Superintendent Kevin Smith spoke of his support for the new model.

“We’ve had some very lengthy conversations over the course of the spring, with the [Wilton Education Association] (WEA), with staff in that building, and we’ve come to an agreement on a different schedule,” he said.

Collins explained that, through some trial and error, he and his fellow math teachers have discovered that the one-hour period was not the most beneficial for student engagement, noting the kids get antsy around the 45-minute mark.

BOE member Pamela Ely praised the staff’s work in arriving at the change.

“We came to the 60 minutes because the math needed the 60 minutes (but) 60 minutes is a long time for a kid to sit, I think,” she said.

However, DeLuca had a different outlook about it, noting that the original 42-minute classes from the prior schedule felt rushed.

“The curriculum wasn’t able to be gotten through the way it was supposed to be gotten through …I think there’s a loss … We talked about having that extra time for personal learning, for small group work, for individual guided instruction and guided practice,” DeLuca said.

“So I have some reservations about, did we really go through this and come to this with data and clarity, because I think it’s a little bit more than a tweak,” she said, noting it was going to take “reworking” to bring what she said were one-hour lessons back within the 48-minutes periods.

Smith defended the change.

“When we met last about this, you talked about your own experience,” he said to Kaulins, “and you felt 60 was a bit too much … 40 not enough, 48 was (the) sweet spot.”

“No schedule is ever going to be perfect,” Smith said but noted that academic achievement at Middlebrook has been on an upward trajectory for a long time, particularly in math.

“This year Middlebrook will have the strongest performance it’s ever had across the board,” he said.

Kaulins concurred.

“I really do believe that, that 48 minutes, it’s going to be a sweet spot for us,” he said.

Higgins said that staff members have been “clamoring” for this change, claiming it would make their lives easier, and therefore he believes they will be strongly committed to making it work.

“That is, I think, reason enough for us to say it is worth giving it a shot,” he said.