Berner Middle School Makes Structure and Scheduling Changes for September

Berner Middle School will change its operating structure in September in order to increase continuity for students and give them more scheduling flexibility, district officials said..

The school plans to create what's called a "house structure," a system described as " a school within a school.

Under the current set-up, Berner students are placed on one of the school's six and a half teams and are instructed by a set of teachers assigned to that team.

When the house structure system takes affect, the teams will be divided into thirds, which would put two teams in each house.  This would give students two sets of teachers for each core subject, allowing for more flexible scheduling, officials said.

Under the system, guidance counselors, social workers and psychologists, will also be assigned to students in a house. They will travel with those students as they move from seventh to eighth grade ensuring continuity.

“Having the pupil personnel staff connect directly to a house of students is a great advantage because they will get to know the students better, understand the curriculum better, what their needs are better and work on a higher level with the teacher to ensure that those needs are met,” said Dr. Thomas Fasano, assistant to the superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction.

“This shift establishes the pathway for the infusion of more rigorous courses down the road and the timing is right in light of the newly implemented Common Core Learning Standards that call for increased rigor across the board.”