After the HSST began its work earlier this fall, team members unanimously agreed that thoroughly investigating cost-neutral alternatives to our current schedule would be difficult if not impossible without the assistance of an expert. After coming to that determination, the school district retained the services of scheduling consultant Dr. Michael Rettig.
Dr. Rettig is the founder of School Scheduling Associates, LLC (www.schoolschedulingassociates.com). He spent 15 years as a professor in the College of Education and Director of the Center for School Leadership at James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia. He retired from JMU as Professor Emeritus in June 2006 to work full-time with schools across the country. Dr. Rettig has served as a consultant on school scheduling issues in 41 states with over 750 school districts nationally and internationally. He also has conducted hundreds of workshops and has authored or co-authored numerous articles and books on school scheduling and related topics.
After Thanksgiving Dr. Rettig spent a full day with the HSST, outlining alternatives to our current schedule as he saw them and discussing any options that might be implementable here at Homestead without hiring additional faculty. Based on his feedback and the group's processing of the information that he provided, the HSST has narrowed its investigation to two preferred schedules at this time. In future blog postings I will outline these options and the research/study process that the HSST developed to investigate these schedules.
