The Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools Board of Education met on Oct. 17 to discuss the transition to block schedules in high schools across the district.
The district decided to move to a traditional block district earlier this year. The new schedule is set to begin at the start of the 2025-26 school year, according to the district’s website.
Bob Bales, the executive director of curriculum and instruction for secondary education and academic programming, gave a presentation to the board about the priorities and considerations for the transition. The key focus areas are a new student information system, balancing the academic calendar, effective communication with families and addressing staffing challenges.
Given the schedule shift, Bales said one of the district’s goals is to update all of the course pacing guides, ideally by November.
Additionally, the shift to a block schedule will include professional development for teachers and staff — an aspect Bales said teachers have previously asked for.
Bales said gathering direct feedback from teachers is necessary and that he wants to hear what teachers have to say.
“I feel like I’ve been in schools so much talking to teachers about this that I should be on the Christmas cards,” Bales said. “For me, I want to make sure we are getting as much information from our teachers as actually possible.”
While many teachers know about the decision to move to a block schedule, Bales said most teachers want to know how the change will impact their jobs.
Bales said he believes a lot of the progress will come from having one-on-one conversations with teachers and parents to learn how they will be impacted.
