The Bend-La Pine Schools board is considering shifting elementary and middle schools from a trimester to a semester schedule, mirroring the schedules of the district’s Bend high schools.

Superintendent Ron Wilkinson said Tuesday the proposed change was initiated by elementary school principals who wanted to better align the end of grading periods with internal assessments administered by the school. Under the current system, report cards are being issued with less timely assessment results than will be available under the new system.

Wilkinson said “middle schools could have stayed or changed,” but noted the middle school principals preferred to have their schedules aligned with the other schools. La Pine Middle School would not make the change, keeping its schedule the same as that of La Pine High, the only high school in the district to operate on a trimester system.

“Smaller schools tend to have less staff, and staying on the trimester allows them to offer their students a greater variety of classes than they could on the semester system,” Wilkinson said. “This was also the rationale behind the original decision for La Pine.”

The calendar change would also facilitate a decrease in the number of days when only some levels do not have school, a situation which Wilkinson acknowledged can cause a burden for parents.

“Our goal is to, whenever possible, align when schools are off,” Wilkinson said. “With more class days for high school than the other levels due to their having more conference days, you can’t eliminate all such days.”

In its current form, the proposed calendar may eliminate a few such days for Bend-area schools, while it may increase a few of those days for La Pine-area schools.

Another benefit of the new calendar Wilkinson cited is the ability to move fall elementary parent-teacher conferences one week back to the second full week of October.

“There are some who would want it even later, so you had a better sense of where a student is,” Wilkinson said. “But there are also those who want it earlier, so you can make those connections. I think this hits the right balance.”

The board decided to vote on the change later, but Chairwoman Cheri Helt characterized the proposed change as a “win-win.”

“It helps teachers with their workload and makes sense for families,” she said.

— Reporter: 541-633-2160, tleeds@bendbulletin.com