Elementary School Master Scheduling

Marisa Phirangee-Gentles
Marisa Phirangee-Gentles
Eighth Anniversary Kudos 1 Name Dropper Participant
in Blackbaud Enrollment Management System™

Hi,

Currently my school - PK3 to 5th have a 6 day rotation with roughly 8 specials. Our teachers are over loaded with classes with no time for lunch sometimes. The scheduling is done by hand and not inputted in BB. Are any schools that are willing to share their schedules so we can see if it works for us? Thank you!!

Comments

  • Anita Pinkerton
    Anita Pinkerton
    Fifth Anniversary Kudos 1 Name Dropper Facilitator 1

    @Marisa PhirangeeGentles
    I have the same question. I guess no one has this figured out? It would be nice to have schedules live in the system, but I am not sure how to get started. Our “blocks” are only 15 minutes sometimes, and some classes are taught at different times during the day depending on the day.

  • Jo Giesecke
    Jo Giesecke
    Eighth Anniversary Kudos 1 Name Dropper Facilitator 1

    @Marisa PhirangeeGentles When periods are different lengths, you have to use Random Scheduling. It takes a while to set up since you have to enter into the system every time period you want to be able to schedule a class. End time for a class cannot ever be the same as start time for a class. The time periods you create are assigned a number by the program, so when you actually put in the schedule, you need to have a list of your time periods handy (can print from Blackbaud). Then you manually go in and check the boxes for the time periods for each class for each period they are scheduled in your rotation. Phew!

  • Anita Pinkerton
    Anita Pinkerton
    Fifth Anniversary Kudos 1 Name Dropper Facilitator 1

    @Jo Giesecke I just went through all the schedules we have and there are 65 possible times when a class our activity could occur. So, using the method you describe, I would create all 65 time slots? And when I create them I need to leave a minute off of either the start or end time so that none of them overlap on start and end times?

  • Jo Giesecke
    Jo Giesecke
    Eighth Anniversary Kudos 1 Name Dropper Facilitator 1

    @Anita Pinkerton Yes - that is correct. Most of our classes run on an 8 period day, so I made those the first 8 time slots. I then grouped my time slots by the of length of the period. You can print the list to refer to when scheduling, the I put a box around each group of time periods. I hope this is helpful.

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