Some teachers say the savings came at the expense of teachers\u2019 planning time, though. <\/p>\n
With eight-period block scheduling, students attended four classes each day for extended, 90-minute periods. Under that system, many teachers had a six-course load \u2014 allowing them to teach three classes and have one 90-minute planning period each day. This year, most high schools are still doing block scheduling, but with six classes. That means two sets of three classes meet on alternating days for 100-minute blocks, and a seventh, shorter, class meets each day for 55 minutes. Teachers have one 100-minute planning period every other day.<\/p>\n
A district spokesperson tells Jacksonville Today that Duval Schools is making the change to a more traditional seven-period day \u2014 something teachers colloquially call a \u201cstraight seven\u201d \u2014 for the coming year in response to feedback from teachers. Students will attend all seven classes each day, and periods will be 50 minutes long.<\/p>\n
Magnet high school schedule<\/p>\n
The district\u2019s magnet high schools \u2014 Douglas Anderson, Paxon, Stanton and Wolfson \u2014 successfully lobbied to keep their eight-period block schedules this year, even as the traditional high schools changed to seven-period days.\u00a0<\/p>\n
District spokesperson Laureen Ricks says the magnet high schools will stay on the eight-period days for the coming year, too.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Numerous teachers, students and parents have complained to the school board throughout this school year that allowing the magnet high schools to keep eight-period days is unfair.<\/p>\n
The eight-period schedule is perceived as better because it results in students earning more credits during high school: Four years of eight classes yields 32 credits instead of the 28 credits seven-period schedules provide. Florida requires students to have 24 credits to earn a high school diploma. Practically, this translates to students having the opportunity to earn extra college credits and explore more electives. It can also effectively cost the district money if students choose not to fill their schedules as they near the end of their time in high school and already have enough credits to graduate.<\/p>\n
Board members debated the difference while discussing start times at a workshop last month, saying it was unfair \u2014 or even inequitable \u2014 for the magnet schools to retain the heavier class load.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Several board members worried about the message it sends to teachers and students \u2014\u00a0to let the academically rigorous magnet schools keep the perceived advantage while requiring traditional schools to do without. Beyond teacher planning time, the longer blocks are also useful for interventions when students need extra help, teachers argue. <\/p>\n
District 7 rep Melody Bolduc said she worries the district isn\u2019t giving \u201cequal opportunities\u201d to all students to earn college credits and scholarships.<\/p>\n
\u201cI really feel like the schools that need it more aren\u2019t getting it, and that we are adding privilege to privilege, and I don\u2019t think it\u2019s acceptable,\u201d she said. \u201cTo be frank, if our school grades go down, I\u2019m going to have a hard time not pointing to this as a reason. You can\u2019t take away time and support and access and expect the outcomes to remain the same.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tony Ricardo, who represents District 1, said he \u201cecho(ed) the same sentiment that inequity in the scheduling\u201d provided more opportunities for some schools and less for others.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not against students having a lot of opportunities, but they should be across the district,\u201d Ricardo said.<\/p>\n
Superintendent Chris Bernier told the board he would prefer for all schools to be on the seven-period schedule, but he listened to principals at the magnet schools when they asked to keep eight periods.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m going to say this honestly, and I will probably get in trouble with at least one board member,\u201d Bernier said. \u201cI didn\u2019t build Wolfson, Paxton, Stanton and Douglas Anderson. But the reality is they\u2019re here \u2026 and you get there by being a well-informed parent choosing an elementary school.\u201d<\/p>\n
Duval Schools allows parents to choose any elementary school as long as there is enough room.\u00a0And admission into the magnet schools is more likely when students follow a particular path through elementary and middle \u201cfeeder\u201d schools \u2014 something the district calls \u201ccontinuity.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWith continuity, a certain elementary will get you to a certain middle, and only being in a certain middle will get you to one of those environments, with a rare exception,\u201d Bernier said. \u201cI mean, if we really want to tear apart equity and access, then we\u2019ve got a lot to examine.\u201d<\/p>\n
John Meeks, vice president of Duval Teachers United, the teachers union, says scheduling changes aren\u2019t unusual. \u201cHistory doesn\u2019t repeat itself \u2014\u00a0it rhymes,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
\u201cAny attempt to not properly fund our schools is setting up a situation that Tallahassee is watching from afar \u2014 and that\u2019s divide and conquer,\u201d Meeks said. \u201cBecause as long as you have the teachers and education staff professionals fighting against each other over schedules, they\u2019re not gonna point the finger where the true blame lies \u2014 and that is, we\u2019re not being adequately funded.\u201d<\/p>\n
Other changes for next year<\/p>\n
Elementary and middle school start times won\u2019t change, but four more Duval County elementary schools will close at the end of this month:\u00a0Don Brewer, George Washington Carver, Hidden Oaks<\/a> and Hyde Grove.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Florida_Times-Union_1961-09-01_17-996x1024.jpg\")
The Florida Times Union from Sept. 1, 1961<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Most Jacksonville high schools will add about a half hour to their school day when the new school…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":265107,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[43323,1038,113,116,118,117,115],"class_list":["post-265106","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-distribute","tag-duval-county-public-schools","tag-education","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265106","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=265106"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265106\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/265107"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=265106"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=265106"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=265106"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}