High school students to see big change in schedules

County high school students can expect a dramatic change in their schedules next year if the number of classes they take each semester is cut in half.

Instead of offering eight, 86-minute classes on alternating days each semester, county school officials said yesterday they're planning to offer four, 86-minute classes daily each semester.

The proposal came out of a meeting between school officials, the teachers' and administrators' unions and parent groups Friday that was closed to the general public and the news media.

But acting Deputy Superintendent Kenneth Nichols, the school administrator who led the meeting, said...