Questions have arisen due to a new bell schedule at TUSD’s Santa Rita High School. The new schedule only allows students only one minute for passing time, and ever minute counts in the calculation of instructional hours in a district that offers as few hours as legally allowable.
Just last year, the district paid heavy fines for offering too few instructional hours to its students.
This year, recognizing that students cannot possibly pass from one class to another in one minute, teachers have been advised to not mark students tardy for class. This allows the school to claim instructional time, while not actually providing it.
Parents, students, and administrators have complained of fraudulent practice approved by high school central administrator Abel Morado. When confronted about Morado’s decision, Pedicone admitted that it was wrong, but wrote in response, “We are investigating what is happening at Santa Rita. We are meeting with the ADE through Yousef Awwad to clarify the requirements so we are not working around the law. Because Santa Rita has a schedule where they offer students more classes than the traditional high school schedule and there appears to be a problem meeting the required minutes when students attend either JTED classes or dual enrollment with Pima College, meeting the requirement seems to be problematic. We discovered that they are holding classes with a 65 minute time frame and allowing students to be four minutes late along with the one minute for passing to allow students to participate in both JTED/Pima CC and regular classes. We are being told this meets the ADE requirement but it certainly does not appear to be appropriate. I have indicated that I will not authorize anything that does not fall within the ADE mandates and does not meet our standards of appropriateness.
However, according to officials at the ADE, “We have communicated with the principal from Santa Rita High School who stated that the school reduced the passing time between periods to encourage students to hustle to class. According to Principal Bonn, “when we had a tardy bell at 5 minutes students would wait until the tardy bell then make their way to class resulting in lost instruction. Now students are leaving one class and hustling to the next class. We are seeing the desired result and we have increased instructional time. We will continue to monitor and are prepared to adjust if necessary.”
Santa Rita’s principal, Chris Bonn, stated that students who do not make it to class within the one minute passing time are marked tardy, and there is no leeway time added after the minute. Generally speaking, shorter passing time between instructional periods provides additional actual classroom instructional time, compared to a school with larger passing times but an equal day.
According to the ADE, “In regards to negotiations between ADE and TUSD regarding instructional hours, the law is clear that schools must provide a minimum number of instructional hours per grade level. The ADE does not have legal authority to negotiate the minimum number of instructional hours required by law. The ADE recently conducted an audit of TUSD’s instructional hours provided to students in grades 7 and 8. The audit identified a number of schools that failed to provide at least the minimum number of instructional hours to its students as required by A.R.S. Section 15-901 and ADE External Guideline GE-18, which further defines what is considered instructional time and what is not considered instructional time. Recent negotiations between ADE and TUSD were to resolve disputed issues of this audit, not prospective instructional hours actually provided to students.”
“Arizona Revised Statutes Section 15-901 defines the grade-articulated minimum number of instructional hours that each school is required to provide its students for a full-time instructional program. Additionally, the Arizona Department of Education (ADE) has issued External Guidelines that relate to your inquiry. ADE External Guideline GE-18 was issued to clarify what qualifies for classroom instruction hours and the procedure for instances where school districts and/or charter holders do not meet the statutorily mandated annual instruction hours. ADE External Guideline GE-19 was issued to clarify the amount of passing time that may be included in calculations of the total instructional hours offered to students and the procedures for instances where the limit in passing time is exceeded. Basically, GE-19 states that schools may include in its calculations of instructional time up to seven minutes of passing between courses of study.”
“Having spend time working and observing in several districts I find the notion that students can go from one class in a large high school to another in one minute open to some serious questions. The statement from Principal Bonn that all students who fail to get to class within the one-minute passing time are marked tardy needs to be examined,” said Rich Kronberg, long time educator. “Does he use the traditional definition of being on-time as meaning students are in their seats and ready to work when the tardy bell rings, or is he using some other “fudged” version of the term? Are students now permitted to run to class? Do students get to use their lockers in between classes? If so, how is that done? These are some of the questions that should be asked and answered by the ADE and TUSD’s central administration.”
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