About 40 parents in the Jordan School District are asking the school board to reverse a decision it made three years ago to phase out a seventh-period class for extracurricular activities.
With petitions in hand, the parents showed up to ask the board to reconsider its decision - made on the heels of budget cuts from the state.The reason for the decision was to free staff members so they could teach, said Jordan's assistant superintendent Tom Owen.
"We found that, depending on the size of the school, 14 to 18 people (staff) are involved in seventh-period athletics," he said. Freeing up those teachers theoretically would equal hiring about 2.3 teachers per school, he said.
That would then lower the student teacher ratio by about four students. It also allows students to take classes during that seventh period that they may not have had time for when participating in sports, he said.
Owen said when the board went to the district's high school principals with its decision, the principals asked the board to phase out the seventh-period class slowly. The board decided to drop different sports from the seventh-period class each year, but all must be dropped by 1992, he said.
At Tuesday's meeting, parents voiced concern about lengthening the school day by making students pursue athletics later in the day.
Sharon Scott, whose son plays football and is also active in a number of other after-school activities, fears her son won't be able to do all of the things he does now if sports are eliminated from the seventh-period class.
Board members said they will let the parents know if they'll reconsider the decision at a future board meeting.