For the new school year, Friendswood High School requested and has been granted a 45 minute late arrival for students every Thursday beginning the second week of the new school year. Starting September 1, high school students will begin class at 9:19 a.m.
             School buses will run approximately 45 minutes later on Thursdays for high school students.  Transportation Director Mike Jones will post routes with exact schedules for each high school run on their Transfinder site on the FISD website.
             For the past several years, FISD has provided a time during the school day for teachers and staff to engage in professional learning communities. Due to the severe reduction in funding anticipated this next school year, time provided for professional learning communities to meet during the school day was eliminated when a reduction in staff occurred. The 45 minutes will continue professional learning communities for the faculty at FHS.
             With the loss of the common planning period for teachers this year due to unprecedented budget cuts from the decrease in State funding, there is no time during the day or after school, due to extra-curricular obligations,  for teachers to plan together within a team, review data, make curricular improvements and learn the new requirements of the STAAR End of Course assessments in order to positively affect student performance.
             FHS is leading the district in a pilot program for Problem Based Learning to incorporate the 21st century skills needed for students to be successful both in school and in the workplace. They will continue the staff development needed to focus their staff on this new way of incorporating learning with real world problems and projects.
             “The Professional Learning Community (PLC) has been a strong planning component and one of the key reasons for the success of our students at FHS. Due to the schedule change at FHS for this school year we had to explore other options to continue the PLC at FHS,” FHS Principal Mark Griffon said. “The FHS staff is excited to be able to utilize a late arrival schedule one day a week so that we can continue our PLC. Teachers will utilize this time to share and model best practices and design engaging lessons for our students. The PLC allows the time for our teachers to plan together for continuous innovation within the curriculum. “
             Before requesting the late arrival from the School Board, Principal Mark Griffon researched the plan. He sought others’ opinions as well. The FHS Site Base Committee met on April 7 and May 5 to discuss and approve this proposal.
Commissioner of Education Robert Scott replied to a letter sent by Superintendent Trish Hanks asking for the approval of this one day of late arrival.  Scott stated in his letter that if FISD maintained the Exemplary rating it had achieved the prior two years,  it would be eligible for the Excellence Exemptions. Accountability ratings were recently released and Friendswood High School is one of the few high schools in the state to earn the Exemplary rating.
             The FISD Board of Trustees approved the late arrival on Thursdays each week at FHS at their regular meeting July 18, 2011. Griffon will present more information on plans for the 45 minutes and Professional Learning Committees at the Board meeting August 8, 2011.
             “A large focus this year will be spent on the transition our teachers and students will make to the state's new accountability system the End Of Course examinations for all content areas,” Griffon said. “Also, we are excited about our push in developing 21st century strategies which will engage our students in real world activities and technology in all areas.”