Hall County high schools will keep the seven-period schedule they've had for the last two years in the upcoming school year.

Terry Sapp, educator on special assignment for Hall County Schools, proposed a different schedule that would mix the traditional seven-period day with block scheduling.

The proposed schedule would have had students going to all seven classes for 50 minutes three days a week and then taking fewer, alternating classes that last 105 minutes two days a week.

"It was really a way to help create some larger blocks of instruction time for activities that might require more than 50 minutes," Sapp said.

Ideally, students would have been able to use the extra class time once a week to work on extended writing assignments, science labs, Advanced Placement classes and testing.

Hall County Schools Superintendent Will Schofield said that in general it seemed science teachers supported the idea as it would provide enough time to delve into lab assignments.

"Other teachers who maybe teach a foreign language or math would like to have shorter periods," Schofield said.

He said he would have an opinion on the schedule if he were teaching high school math and so deferred the decision to the teachers.

Teachers were given a survey to complete last week. The results were collected Monday morning.

"We're getting a very mixed response from our faculty," Schofield said.

He said the overwhelming impression from the early results of the survey was that the new schedule wouldn't happen.

Sapp confirmed that the teachers overall did not support the proposed schedule.

"We'll stick with a straight seven-period day Monday through Friday next school year," Sapp said.

Schofield said time is the most important variable schools have control over and they will always be open to ideas that will make the most out of that time.

"I think the most important factor in the classroom is the quality of the teacher. I want our teachers to believe in what we're doing," Schofield said.