Brentwood High School plans to transition to a nine-period day starting with the 2022-2023 school year. The school day will start earlier and end a few minutes later while class time will be shortened to 40 minutes each period.

For years, the Brentwood district has been striving to address problems and enhance the overall quality of a student’s educational experience in school. One of the main goals of the additional period is to add elective classes and to give students more chances to take electives of interests. The nine period day ensures that every student has the ability to take a lunch period as well as have more flexibility regarding their schedules.

When asked about the process of adding the new initiatives on top of our current programs, Mr. Callan stated, “We’ve been fighting for this for years and we’re so happy that we have the added funds from the federal government and state.  

The list of new proposed courses for 2022-23 is as follows:

• Math: Cyber Security, Trigonometry, Introduction to Statistics
• English: English 12 – Writing for the Workforce, Grit/Resilience/SEL, Exploring Teaching l, Public Speaking, AP Capstone
• Social Studies: AP Human Geography, Principle of Economics
• Science: Project Based Physical Science, Human Impact on the Environment, Botany/Agriculture, Nutrition and Food Chemistry, Bilingual Earth Science
• Business: Exploring Teaching II – Internship Seminar
• Art/Music: Dance and Piano
• Languages Other Than English (LOTE): Latin I, American Sign Language, Connecting Cultures.

There will also be more educational programs and career courses added to BOCES such as a barber workshop.  

“The added electives and AP classes and honors will not only enhance our students’ high school transcripts for college, but also provide remediation for students who are behind due to remote learning. Credit recovery will also be available giving the students who fell behind a chance to graduate on time,” Mr. Callan said.  

The anticipation over the new improvements Brentwood is undergoing is high. The effects of the improvements are yet to be seen; however, this fresh new change will no doubt maximize the benefits of the allotted time in a school day.

“Students and parents I’ve spoken to are very excited and it provides our students an opportunity that other districts had for their students,” Mr. Callan said.

It is with the biggest hopes that the new nine-period schedule will allow for new opportunities and ultimately help prepare all of the students for success.