The Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools (CHCCS) Board of Education is set to vote whether or not a new schedule will be implemented across the district’s high schools in the 2025-26 academic year.
The new schedule, commonly referred to as the “4×4” schedule, would limit students to four courses per semester. Students would take four courses in their first semester and four different courses in their second semester. Each semester-long course would give students a yearlong credit for each class, with each class period lasting 85 minutes.
The board was set to vote on the implementation of the schedule on May 16 but postponed the vote until the next meeting, currently set for June 6.
“The primary reason [for postponing the vote] was to afford board members additional time to review the information presented at the meeting,” Board Chair George Griffin said.
The district gathered feedback from community members, asking their opinions on the pros and cons of various schedules. Proponents of the 4×4 schedule noted that it may provide more time for teachers to individually meet with students, give students the chance to finish assignments ahead of time and help students feel less overwhelmed.
Students at Chapel Hill High School, though, have largely opposed the scheduling change, with several students speaking at an earlier board meeting on the 4×4 schedule.
On May 2, the board met to discuss the 4×4 schedule, with dozens of community members appearing for public comment, the vast majority of whom opposed the 4×4 schedule.
Junior Lucy Giordano spoke at the May 2 meeting, highlighting the potential negative impact of the 4×4 schedule on the timing of Advanced Placement (AP) classes.
For AP courses taught in the first semester, there would be several months of time between the end of the course and AP exams in May, which may result in some students forgetting the material.
For AP classes taught in the second semester, the already rigorous course would need to be condensed, with only four months between the beginning of the semester and the administration of AP exams.
“I cannot imagine learning in a 4×4 environment because it would be next to impossible to take even one AP class,” Giordano said. “We would inevitably experience a loss of learning as compared to yearlong courses.”
Junior Hannah Dellon also spoke, emphasizing the importance of maintaining the traditional schedule.
“The current schedule works well for almost all students and staff,” Dellon said. “Such a drastic change would only cause confusion and stress.”
Several faculty members were also present at the May 2 meeting. Social studies teacher Megan Brinkman spoke in the public comment section, also in opposition to the new schedule.
“Learning is deep, developmental, and takes time and maturity,” Brinkman said. “The things that I ask my students to do and to engage with over the course of the year cannot be condensed into one semester.”
Freshman Nyasha Singh, who attended the May 2 meeting, created a petition to stop the move to the 4×4 schedule, garnering 576 signatures as of May 31.
“The [proposed] schedule would come with extremely detrimental effects,” Singh said. “AP classes, for instance, are already stressful for many students. Condensing a full college course into one semester would unfairly increase the difficulty.”
Singh also noted the possible negative effects on arts classes.
“I’m in orchestra, and we are able to put on four concerts per year; by reducing the class to one semester, you learn less and do not have as much of an opportunity to play a variety of pieces,” Singh said.
Students have also stressed the importance of going to upcoming board meetings on the matter to demonstrate opinions on the scheduling change.
“We need to organize further to show the board that the vast majority of us do not approve of the change,” Giordano said.
4×4 is beneficial from a few standpoints.
* If a student flunks a core class the first semester, there is room for them to repeat it the next semester, and stay on track to graduate.
* Instead of teaching 5 classes per year, teachers would be available for 6 classe$ per year.
* Students who are typically focused on only AP courses will have the opportunity in their schedules to take (honors!) electives, such as Personal/Business Finance taught by (gasp) real Business teachers.
Author here, commenting on my own behalf (not representing the views of Proconian, my classmates, or our faculty advisor). Thanks for interacting with the post! I did strive to make it a hard news story but was essentially unable to find students/faculty in support of 4×4. It thus ended up being lopsided. You do make some fair points, however.
As for the first, I am not sure logistically whether students would sign up for their 2nd semester classes on a separate date than their first semester ones; on one hand, enrollment on two separate dates would likely be a headache for administration. On the other, enrolling for both semesters at once coupled with failing a class in your first semester would result in needing to shuffle around your second semester considerably — nonetheless proving to be quite logistically complicated.
As for the second, anecdotally, almost every teacher I have spoken to would prefer teaching 5 classes rather than 6.
As for the third, I do not think that students taking 8 classes rather than 7 would necessarily result in a substantial increase in student engagement with non-AP courses. At best you may be able to complete one CTE pathway. Otherwise, you may spend that extra period in a different elective each year without ultimately finding a pathway that suits you.
Thanks again, though, for the engagement!