Hutchinson USD 308 is going to spend several months looking at pros and cons of keeping a trimester schedule at Hutchinson High School or switching to a semester schedule, as discussed at the Board of Education’s meeting on March 23.
The Hutchinson Tribune applauds the Board of Education, Superintendent Dawn Johnson, and Hutch High Principal Ryan Ewy for taking this step, not because we think Hutch High should operate on a semester schedule—we don’t have a position on that and won’t at least until the committee examining the issues reports what it finds. Rather, we support administrators and policymakers asking the question, “Would we serve students better by changing how we do this?”
Hutch High has used trimesters since 1997, plenty of time to establish an attitude that this is how we have “always” done things. The Class of 2001 graduated high school having only experienced trimesters, and surely some of them have children in high school now. Overcoming nearly 30 years of inertia to ask if it is still the right approach for Hutch High is an important step.
Maybe trimesters are still the better option for Hutch High. That would be good news, because it would save USD 308 a lot of work reconfiguring the high school schedule.
Or maybe the data will show semesters as clearly beneficial and preferable. That wouldn’t mean the school district was wrong to adopt trimesters when it did. There have been advances in the science of education since then, not to mention changes in requirements and expectations, along with huge changes in technology in classrooms.
Of course, there is a very real chance that the committee’s findings won’t be cut and dry in support of one option or the other, whether that’s because the results of their study are inconclusive or because it’s a mixed bag with some measures favoring semesters and others favoring trimesters. In that case, we will count on the judgment of the Board of Education; the fact that they are having this conversation to begin with is a good sign.
The school district will have lots of in-state data to look at for semesters but may have to look outside of Kansas to collect enough data on trimesters, as the only other school in Kansas using trimesters is Council Grove, with only 20% as many high school students as Hutchinson.
Based on the timeline laid out by Ewy at the board meeting, the committee will be taking its time to deliberate before presenting its final report in August, and the earliest a potential switch to semesters would go into effect is the 2027-28 school year.
All of this is how these big policy decisions are supposed to work. Start by actually asking the question, take the time to really dig into the issues, then give yourself enough time to implement any change without rushing. But it all starts asking the question. And it ends with having the courage to accept the answers and make the best decision possible for everyone based upon those answers. Too many times organizations ask the questions, do the research, get the answers and possible solutions only to decide to stay with the status quo because it’s comfortable.
Asking why we do things a particular way isn’t an attack on the status quo or a sign of wholesale change coming. There will usually be a good reason why. But sometimes conditions will have changed since a way of doing things started. In some areas, we know things now that they didn’t know then. That additional knowledge that comes from experience and seeking out different perspectives is critical when it comes to making informed decisions based in reality instead of perception. Too often we can’t see the forest for the trees because we’re too close to an issue, which is why outside perspectives are an important part of the decisionmaking process.
We look forward to learning—and reporting—what USD 308’s committee finds about semesters versus trimesters in the coming months. And we encourage organizations—whether educational, governmental, business, and nonprofit—in our communities to consider whether their longstanding practices remain the best approach now and for the future.
– The Hutchinson Tribune Editorial Board