Scheduling Overview Project:

Roosevelt High School

Christian Alberto Ledesma
University of Minnesota
OLPD 5388: Leadership for Master(ful) Scheduling
May 8, 2017
 The Master schedule at Roosevelt High School is a constant work in progress that has
taken a couple of months to build and continues to be revised. Several factors go into building
the Master schedule including, but not limited to, the principals vision for the school, student
choice of coursework, feedback from staff and departments, student needs, and IB diploma
requirements. This paper will provide an overview of the main components in the development
of the Master schedule.

Scheduling Team
The scheduling team at Roosevelt High School is comprised of several members from
various constituencies. The team is composed of the administrative team (Principal, two
Assistant Principals, and Administrative Intern), three instructional coaches, Special Education
lead teacher, guidance counselors, the ESL lead teacher, and a scheduling clerk. The following
list outlines the details of their particular roles during the scheduling process.

Principal - Set deadlines, timelines, and reminded the team of his vision to ensure arts
programming continued to be supported and grown despite student choice not
supporting certain courses.
Assistant Principal 1 - Created document containing a list of all positions at Roosevelt
and led administrative team in ranking how integral the position was to values identified
by staff and facilitated a reflective conversation for the admin team on the topic.
Assistant Principal 2 - In their first year as Assistant Principal, mostly just asked
clarifying questions.
Administrative Intern (me) - Shadowed with the ESL lead teacher and scheduling clerk
in order to learn how decisions were made as schedule was pieced together. Recorded
schedule changes from day to day and week to week to track changes and have a
record in case we needed to go back to previous iterations.
Instructional coaches - Two math coaches and one Literacy/Instructional coach met
with the administrative team to discuss the instructional needs of students and the type
of programming they might want to see at Roosevelt. For example, one coach
suggested an extra math help sections for struggling students.
Special Education lead teacher - While this teacher is on maternity leave, other
teachers in that department met with members of the administrative team to make
 suggestions about the schedule, including shifts to co-teaching models in order to better
support students in certain content areas.
Guidance counselors - Meet with the principal once a week to discuss student issues;
during budget season the conversations shift to student need and student choice.
ESL lead teacher - Plays an integral role in the building of the schedule as they work
closely with the scheduling clerk to physically build the schedule. They also use data
from students and ESL teachers to determine what student needs may be next year.
They also met with the principal to discuss co-teaching shifts due to specific student
achievement data and the need to grow stronger co-teaching relationships.
Scheduling clerk - Works closely with the ESL leader teacher to physically build the
schedule. Houses three white boards with grids and magnet strips to code content
courses. Updates student numbers on courses as counselors upload and updates the
administrative team about course enrollment numbers.

Scheduling Timeline
The scheduling conversations started informally as early as the Fall. Once teachers had
experienced several weeks of teaching particular classes, they would offer feedback to the
administrative team in informal meetings about what could be improved. Most conversations
centered around student needs, in particular the needs of English Language Learners. The
following are specific dates of

January 20, 2017

During a monthly Bagels with Bradley, a meeting in which parents, the principal, and family
liaison discuss issues at Roosevelt, Principal Michael Bradley brought up the upcoming school
budget. Mr. Bradley mentioned that the rumor around the district was that there would be some
cuts to next years budget but the size of the cuts had not been determined. Parents expressed
concerns that the budget at Roosevelt had been cut several times over the last few years. They
expressed the need to continue growing the arts at Roosevelt and supporting athletics. Some
parents mentioned the possibility of going to the Board of Directors and organizing a protest
regarding Roosevelts budget. Mr. Bradley asked parents to be patient and not make any
decisions until the full picture of the budget was known.
February 9, 2017
The administrative team at Roosevelt participated in a meeting at the district office to discuss
budget, staffing, and how to receive input from various constituencies. Details regarding
probationary releases, excessing, and rehire decisions were provided.

February 10, 2017

Lead Special Education teacher met with the administrative team to discuss ideas for next year.
According to the teacher, 85% of students with IEPs were failing chemistry, thereby suggesting
that we provide an extra section of Chemistry for struggling students.

February 21, 2017

Principal Bradley led a staff meeting to discuss budget and the details of what we know. The
school district announced it is $21 million in debt and needs to balance the budget and pay off
that debt. The official budget will be received on March 1st but we know there will probably be
deep cuts. Some teachers ask about programming considerations - will some programs get cut?

February 22, 2017

The ESL lead teacher and Scheduling clerk begin putting up IB courses on a draft schedule that
ensures IB diploma students have a pathway to achieve the diploma.

March 6, 2017
Budget released to Roosevelt; budget tie out due March 24th. The administrative team met to
discuss values of the school and what that looks like for each role in the building. Clerks in the
building seemed to be the least aligned positions to the values of the school. The idea that a
clerk position may be cut is considered. The ESL lead teacher and scheduling clerk met with the
administrative team to discuss details of the budget and how to get started.

March 8, 2017
The administrative team met with instructional coaches to determine what changes they may
suggest based on their observations of teachers.
March 13, 2017
Guidance counselors met with the principal to discuss student enrollment and choice numbers.
Students are choosing some art classes in fewer numbers. After the meeting, the principal
discussed low enrollment numbers with the administrative team. When a team member
suggested that we cut an arts position, the principal reminded the team that his vision for
Roosevelt is that Arts program is central to the offerings.

The administrative team continued to meet daily the week of March 13th to discuss ideas,
changes, and feedback from constituencies (Staff meeting, Parent meeting, and student
choice).

March 20, 2017

ESL lead teacher and scheduling clerk met with the administrative team to discuss new version
of the Master schedule. The team went to the white boards to see how changes were being
made based on enrollment numbers. The first assistant principal suggested that the team get rid
of teacher names on the schedules so that decisions are student-need based and not on the
individual teacher. The principal agreed and asked the schedulers to take the names off.

March 24, 2017

The administrative team led a series of individual conversations with staff being excessed or
probationary released. The ESL department was also canvassed and a senior teacher chose to
excess herself, saving the job of a younger ESL teacher at Roosevelt.

The budget is tied out and submitted. Principal Bradley asked the schedulers to prepare the
schedules by department so that departments can start giving feedback and choosing teaching
lines.

April 18, 2017

The schedulers met with the administrative team to discuss a concern: the guidance counselors
have made mistakes in enrollment of students in certain classes and the numbers are skewed.
The schedulers went back and revised the course enrollment accurately but it changed two
course levels. While the changes didnt affect the master schedule, the concern remains since
in other potential instances the mistake could have major effects.
April 24, 2017
Principal Bradley met with the guidance counselors to discuss the issue of erroneous
scheduling. Teachers whose courses changed were informed of changes.

Staffing allocations
The following chart identifies the teaching staff and the total numbers of FTE (full time
employees) by content taught for the 2017-2018 school year.

Administration 3
Art Staffing 2.4
Counseling 4
ELA 8
ESL 8.4
Health 2.4
PE 2
CTE 3.2
Math 8.2
Media 1
Music 2.6
Equity TOSA 0.4
Dance 1
Theater 1
Science 7.4
Social Studies 7.3
AVID 1.4
Social Work 3
Advanced Academics TOSA 1
IBCC TOSA 0.3
AVID TOSA-- 0.2 0.3
RISE TOSA 1
Math Specialist TOSA 0.4
Reading Specialist TOSA 1
Health Careers TOSA 0.6
QComp Cluster TOSA 0.2
Dual Immersion TOSA 0.6
Arts TOSA 0.8
MYP TOSA 0.6
IS TOSA 0.8
 Language Facilitation TOSA 0.2
PREP TOSA 1
Special Ed Resource 7
Special Ed Lifeskills 3
Special Ed DCD 3
Speech Clinician 1.2
Work Experience 0.7
World Language 7

Student Placement in Courses

As mentioned above, students choose their courses for next year during the third
quarter. This informed the scheduling team about what enrollment numbers would look like for
each course and, therefore, what would need to be put into the master schedule. Students pick
from state and district required courses as well as electives. With guidance and approval from
counselors, students choose their courses and counselors register the students in the
appropriate course.
An error occurred in the registration of students in two courses this year, due to mistakes
in the understanding of prerequisites by the guidance counselors. As the issue was investigated,
it was noted that one guidance counselor, in particular, had the most difficulty. The principal
followed up with that counselor to remedy the issue.

Drivers and Constraints

The foundation for the schedule at Roosevelt High School is student need and as a
school with a growing IB diploma candidate pool, our schedule is created to meet the needs of
those diploma candidates. This academic year, 2016-2017, we had just one diploma candidate
and the schedule ensured that they would be able to take the courses required to achieve the IB
diploma. Next year we have seven candidates and the schedule ensures they, too, will have the
opportunity to achieve the diploma.
Other drivers of the schedule include a vision for co-teaching for both English as Second
Language and Special Education in the content areas. Teachers schedules are aligned so that
they can co-teach and, ideally, co-plan with their co-teacher. Allowing the space and time for
schedules to match up also affects other co-planning or team meeting times. An effort is made
so that departments and grade teams have time to work together, however, priority is given to
teaching time.
 Finally, a final but important driver of the schedule is the principals vision for the school:
growing the arts so that all students have access to the arts. This creates some classes that
have low enrollment but will be promoted by staff and counselors to increase student numbers.
During the Welcome Freshman event on May 4, 2017, counselors and administrators promoted
arts courses to incoming freshmen to boost numbers in certain courses.
 Appendix A:
Core Classes Schedule

1 2 3 4 5 6 7
COMMON
ELA 9 IB ELA HL 2 ELA 9 PREP ELA 9 ELA 9

JOURNALIS COMMON
ELA 9 ELA 9 M PREP ELA 9 ELA 9

RISE ELA 10 ELA 10 ELA 10 ELA 10

COMMON
ELA 11 ELA 11 ELA 9 PREP ELA 11 ELA 11

IB ELA HL COMMON

ELA 1 ELA 12 PREP ELA 12 ELA 12 ELA 12

IB ELA SL
IB ELA SL 1 ELA 10 1 ELA 10 ELA 10

IB ELA SL COMMON
2 IB ELA SL 2 PREP

AVID 10 AVID 10 AVID 11 AVID 11 AVID 12

GEOMETR
AVID Y
COORD AVID 9 PREP 9 PREP 9 SUPPORT

Social GEOGRAPH GEOGRAPH GEOGRAP IB HISTORY GEOGRAP

Studies Y Y HY YR 2 HY

AFRICAN COMMON AFRICAN

AM WORLD WORLD PREP AM WORLD

LATINO ST Social IMMERSIO IMMERSION LATINO ST

Studies N US GEOGRAPH
Concepts HISTORY Y

Sheltered ETHNIC
Geography STUDIES
 COMMON US COMMON US
WORLD PREP US HISTORY HISTORY PREP WORLD HISTORY

IB
US COMMON IB HISTORY HISTORY US US
HISTORY PREP YR 1 YR 1 HISTORY HISTORY

Sheltered
US US US
TOK 12 US
COMMON
HISTORY HISTORY HISTORY
PREP TOK 11 TOK 11

ECON ECON ECON RISE WORLD

GOVERNM GOVERNME GOVERNME AP

ENT NT IB PSYCH NT PSYCH

ADVANCE
COMMON D
PREP ALGEBRA ALGEBRA ALGEBRA ALGEBRA ALGEBRA

COMMON IB MATH
PREP ALGEBRA ALGEBRA ALGEBRA ALGEBRA YEAR 2

MATH
COMMON GEOMETR GEOMET CONCEPT
PREP GEOMETRY GEOMETRY Y RY S

RISE for
COMMON COMMON GEOMET Juniors
PREP GEOMETRY GEOMETRY PREP RISE RY only
Math
ADVANCE
YEARBOO
ADVANCED ADVANCED D ADVANCED COMMON
K
ALGEBRA ALGEBRA ALGEBRA ALGEBRA PREP

ADVANCE
ADVANCED ADVANCED COMMON D
ALGEBRA CPAS CPAS ALGEBRA PREP ALGEBRA

IB MATH IB MATH SL IB MATH SL

SL YEAR 1 YEAR 1 YEAR 1

COMMON IB MATH IB MATH

PREP GEOMETRY STUDIES STUDIES
 COMMON SCIENCE
PREP SCIENCE 9 SCIENCE 9 9 SCIENCE 9

ASTRONO COMMON
MY PREP SCIENCE 9 SCIENCE 9 PHYSICS PHYSICS

URBAN URBAN
FARMING FARMING RISE

COMMON IB
PREP BIOLOGY BIOLOGY BIOLOGY

BIOCHEMIS BIOCHEMIS COMMON CHEMIST IB CHEM

Science TRY TRY PREP CHEMISTRY RY YR 2

ACCEL. COMMON IB CHEM YR

SCI 9 CHEMISTRY CHEMISTRY PREP 1

COMMON SCIENCE
BIOLOGY BIOLOGY PREP SCIENCE 9 9 BIOLOGY

HONORS COMMON
BIOLOGY BIOLOGY BIOLOGY PREP IB BIOLOGY BIOLOGY

IMMERSIO
N IMMERSION COMMON
BIOLOGY 9 BIOLOGY PREP
 Appendix B:
Electives
Periods 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
semester
1 STUDIO STUDIO DRAWING STUDIO DRAWING
semeseter
2 DRAWING STUDIO PAINTING DRAWING STUDIO
semester
1 ADV ART ADV ART CERAMICS CERAMICS
semester
2 CERAMICS CERAMICS PAINTING PAINTING
semester
1 IB ART 9TH GRADE SCULPTURE SCULPTURE
semeseter
2 IB ART CHOICE JEWELRY JEWELRY
semester ADAPT
1 DANCE DANCE 1 DANCE 1 DANCE 1

semeseter ADAPT DANCE

2 DANCE 1 DANCE DANCE 1 DANCE 2 STUDIO
semester
1 THEATER THEATER THEATER 2 THEATER THEATER 2
semeseter
2 THEATER THEATER THEATER THEATER THEATER 2
semester
1 GUITAR GUITAR GUITAR

semeseter GEN SYMPHONIC&CONCER

2 MUSIC ORCHESTRA T ADV GUITAR GUITAR

semester MUSIC
1 BEG BAND PIANO PIANO PROD CHOIR 9
semeseter MUSIC
2 BEG BAND PIANO PIANO PROD CHOIR 9
WORLD
semester DRUMMING/SEM
1 CLASS

WORLD
semester VARSITY DRUMMING/SEM
2 DRUMLINE CHOIR CLASS DRUM LINE DRUM LINE
semester WEIGHT
1 BASKETBALL PE 2 SOCCER TRAIN PE 2
semeseter WEIGHT WEIGHT
2 BASKETBALL TRAIN VOLLEYBALL SOCCER TRAIN
semester PE 9 PE 9 PE 9 PE 9 PE 1
 1
semeseter
2 PE 9 PE 9 PE 9 PE 2 PE 9
semester
1 PE 9 PE 9 HEALTH 9 HEALTH 9 HEALTH 9
semeseter
2 HEALTH 9 HEALTH 9 HEALTH 9 PE 9 PE 9
semester
1 HEALTH 2 HEALTH 9 HEALTH 2 HEALTH 1 HEALTH 9
semeseter HC HEALTH
2 HEALTH 9 HEALTH 2 HEALTH 9 9 HEALTH 9
semester
1 ANAT PHYS HCC EMT
semeseter
2 MED TERM EMT
semester ADV
1 AUTO BEG AUTO BEG AUTO

semeseter BEG
2 AUTO ADV AUTO ADV AUTO BLOCK BLOCK
semester INTRO
1 WELDING 1 WOODS WOODS TRADES 1 WELDING 1
semeseter INTRO
2 WELDING 1 WELDING WOODS TRADES 2 WELDING 2
semester
1 BEG AUTO CADD BEG AUTO COLLISION COLLISION
semeseter SMALL SMALL
2 ENGINE CADD ENGINE COLLISION COLLISION
FRENCH
FRENCH 4 1 FRENCH 1 FRENCH 1 FRENCH 3

FRENCH 2 SPANISH 2 SPANISH 2 SPANISH 2 FRENCH 2

IB HL YR 2 SPANISH
SPANISH 1 SPANISH 1 SPANISH 1
IMMERSION IMMERSION SL YR 1
IB SL YR 2 SPANISH SL YR 1 10 9 SPANISH

HL YR 1 HERITAGE
HERITAGE 1 HERITAGE 1 SPANISH 2
ARABIC 2 ARABIC 1 ARABIC 1 ARABIC 1 ARABIC 3/4