A new schedule change at Stamford’s three public high schools has caused controversy and backlash from students, parents, teachers and even members of the Board of Education. The “flexible semester schedule” will be introduced at Stamford High School, Westhill High School, and the Academy of Information Technology & Engineering, replacing the current A/B block system. Under the new plan, students will take four classes per semester and they will be able to complete a full year class in a semester.

In a March 25 letter to the community, Board of Education (BOE) president Michael Hyman said the main goal of the flexible bell schedule is “to ensure that all students have access to opportunities for academic success. At the high school level this means improving 4-year graduation rates at Stamford High and Westhill, reducing attrition at AITE, and maintaining our standing as a state leader in the rigorous college-level coursework available to our students.”

The district says the change will give students more flexibility and help those who have failed classes stay on track to graduate. For instance, students need four credits of English in order to graduate; however not everyone is able to achieve that in four years due to failing the class. This new schedule would provide them with an opportunity to graduate even if they failed.

But many argue this will do more harm than good.

There is growing opposition, especially among students and teachers who say the new plan adds pressure and confusion. Students in honors, AP, and IB classes are especially affected. They now have to balance a full year of curriculum in half the time for the regular and honors-level classes, while AP and IB courses will still meet every other day consistent with the current A/B schedule; this creates a kind of split system.

There has also been considerable division among parents and other members of the Stamford Public Schools (SPS) community. The schedule was proposed and is being implemented by the Board of Education, with the support of Superintendent Dr. Tamu Lucero and Assistant Superintendent of High Schools Dr. Lori Rhodes. However, even board members are unable to agree upon whether or not this schedule is the most appropriate to move forward with.

BOE member Dr. Rebecca Hamman, one of three minority members and a key voter against the schedule, said she was removed from important board positions after speaking out. “This schedule isn’t about helping students learn,” Hamman said. “It’s a band-aid used to manipulate state statistics.”

SPS teachers already voted on and approved this schedule last year, along with updates to their contracts. Hyman told The Round Table, “The impact of a selected schedule on teachers—such as student caseloads and number of courses taught—is subject to collective bargaining between the BOE and the Stamford Education Association (SEA), which is the union representing the teachers. The new teachers’ contract between the BOE and the SEA includes terms that are specific to the flexible schedule.”
This new schedule will provide several benefits for teachers, which likely earned it their initial support. One of these benefits, as stated in the BOE message to the community from Dec. 17, 2024, is a decrease in teacher workloads from managing five classes to only three at one time.

In a December interview with The Round Table, Rhodes said, “In this model, when [classes] are semesterised… teachers mostly will have three classes a day, and they have one of the class periods off…That is what we call ‘planning time’ or ‘unassigned time’. And so they have that every single day, 84 minutes, and then they have three classes of kids…That’s a lot less [than with the current schedule], so I think that’s a benefit for teachers, but I also think that’s a benefit for students. Your teacher doesn’t have as many papers to grade, doesn’t have as many names of kids to know, and can build deeper relationships.”

The central office also justifies the change in part by pointing to a 14% freshman failure rate under the A/B schedule. However, critics say the administration has failed to present supporting data over a several year period or address other relevant indicators such as attendance rates, SRBI/MTSS tier data, credit recovery success, and the post-graduation outcomes.

Among the plan’s more vocal critics, Hamman and SPS parents at the BOE meetings have also claimed the decision was rushed and based on policies, not education. They argue the real goal is to cut costs and improve the district’s image ahead of upcoming local elections. Middle and high school block schedules generally cost more to run, but the new schedule aims to cut expenses by increasing the teacher-to-student ratio to 1:150 per semester.

There are also concerns that principals were pressured to support the plan. In March, the Stamford Advocate reported that Stamford High Principal Matthew Forker and Westhill Principal Michael Rinaldi were coerced into backing the schedule change.

However, in a statement addressing the allegations, Stamford Public Schools said, “the article published on Saturday by The Stamford Advocate unnecessarily amplified a disagreement from last January and virtually ignored the fact that the parties have resolved the related issues.” The SAU said they also considered the matter resolved.

With the recent debate, there is some doubt about whether or not the flexible bell schedule will indeed be put into place this fall. Arguments have been presented during the town hall-style sections of recent BOE meetings, and support from the Stamford community may be wavering. However, the majority of the BOE remains strong in its stance regarding the schedule’s implementation.

For now, the BOE is moving forward with the plan. Despite the community pushback and questions about its effectiveness, no changes have been announced. Hyman said, “it is unfortunate that some members of our school community led parents and students to believe that this decision would be reversed.”

With the new schedule, students would take four 84-minute “A” classes daily in the first semester and switch to four “B” classes in the second semester. Courses that are currently a semester long will switch to being a quarter long. However, students taking exam- or production-based courses such as AP, IB, journalism, yearbook, band, and pathway classes will follow a slightly different schedule; those courses will continue to occur every other day for the entire year within one period slot. This will also force students to fill the alternate day’s slot with another, similarly structured course, or a study hall.

Since 2020, the high school schedule has changed four times. SPS had the COVID-19 schedule (2020), the traditional seven-period schedule (2021), the eight-period A/B (2022-2023), and the seven-period A/B (2024). Now it looks as if there will be a fifth change for the 2025-2026 school year.