Master Schedule Building
Mark Hannan, Principal
Therese Gerlits, Assistant Principal
Silverton High School
Background
• First time builders? Experienced pro’s?
• What size of schools or number of students?
• What do you hope to get from the
presentation?
• Topics you’d like addressed in the
presentation?
Before You Begin, Remember (cont).
Remind yourself, and
others, that a schedule is
first and foremost about:
what’s best for kids.
Before You Begin, Remember
• Your schedule can influence teacher, student, and
building morale for the entire year.
• Have schedule building allies (at least one on-site
and one at the ESD).
• Determine if the schedule building team will be
two people or a committee.
• Have a ‘standard response’ prepared.
• You won’t make everyone happy.
Step 1: Preparation
• Keep a list of what works/doesn’t work with
current or previous schedules, processes, and
timeline.
• Create a forecasting process and timeline early
(include input from SpEd, ELD, etc.).
• Update associated documents (curriculum guide,
forecasting sheets, 8th grade teacher
recommendation forms, new courses)
Step 2: Getting Started
• Forecast, forecast, forecast
• FTE data for oncoming year
• Decide who will be involved in the process and to what
extent (department chairs, principal, athletic director, all
staff, etc.).
• List high-powered singletons (depends on school size).
• Determine who is inputting data…you are only as good as
the information in the system.
• List of ‘have to’ and ‘want to’ from staff.
– Have to: ½ time employees (a.m. or p.m.), prep combined with
lunch for shared FTE
– Want to: business teacher 1st period prep because it’s easier to
shop for supplies
Step 3: Build, Refine, Build
• Based on your school’s system:
– build, refine, build
• Keep in mind:
– Total number of teachers with preps each period
– Total number of classes available for each grade level
each period
– Places to ‘stash’ kids (study halls/PE classes each
period)
– Room conflicts/constraints
– Vertical column student totals
When You’re Building…
• Computer system
vs. a schedule
board
• Uninterrupted time
• Separate from the
masses
Sometimes repetition is good…
Remind yourself, and
others, that a schedule is
first and foremost about:
what’s best for kids.
Questions?