Scheduling - Where to Begin

“Sure, I’ll do the scheduling!” I said as a once-newbie to administration. “How hard can it be?” In my earlier years we didn’t have access to a program that would place students into classes. Later this was available and saved a lot of time with middle school schedules, especially.  However, in a K-8 Catholic school there are many things to consider long before you are able to assign students to a class or subject.  

The first decision to be made is the question of priority for scheduling. One way to begin is to lump your priorities into categories such as listed below:

Priorities

• State/diocesan guidelines or requirements – These will affect the time of your classes, travel minutes between classes, specials class length and even the daily start and end

time for school.

• School-wide initiatives and priorities- These will affect actual learning time in subject areas. They may include common planning time for teachers, extra resource help for students, mass and special religious events, a leadership program, a reading or math program, etc.

• Necessities of staff and space – Lunch times which are dependent on lunchroom space and supervisors are probably one of the largest priorities. The use of teacher assistants and resource help can determine when prime teaching can occur within a classroom.  Recess times depend on shared playground space. Subjects sharing a room, like Spanish, art or p. e. need to be coordinated.

Additional Points to Consider

• Announcements – How long is the morning or afternoon announcements?

  
  

• Carlines – The entering and exiting of the buildings by all students, especially where stairways and hallway crossings, can clog movement. 

  
  

• Travel times between classes –Don’t over-estimate (or forget!) the travel times. Giving travel time 5 minutes is certainly easier to count and measure but can take up to 30-40 unused minutes in a whole day and adds up significantly for a whole school year. Also, distance and age-group movement around campus needs consideration. Kindergarteners cannot move across campus as quickly and easily as older students. 

  
  

• Parttime staff and programs – Oddly, the people and programs that are there/happening the least often need to be determined first because they are the least flexible.

Lucky For You!

Unless you are opening a brand-new building there is at least a shell of a schedule already in place as you start your planning for the coming year. Look it over with new eyes. Keep what is good, toss what hasn’t worked well.  Consider your new initiatives and what priorities you value for the coming year.

For a scheduling checklist, examples and templates, check out my scheduling packet at this link:  Scheduling a K - 8 School by Go Forth and Lead | TPT Go Forth and Lead | Teachers Pay Teachers