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The Almont Board of Education approved the move with a 6-0 vote during its regular meeting Monday night; Vice President John Miles was absent. To reflect the changes, courses, curriculum, and the 2008-09 course guide booklet were approved as well.

"We're not dissatisfied with the current (scheduling) model," Superintendent Steve Zott said. "We believe this will be proactive to the new graduation requirements. Our idea is this move will have a much better flexibility if students fall behind."

Currently, high schoolers take the traditional schedule of six classes a day for two semesters. This equals out to be 24 credits graduated for a student going through four years of high school in this matter.

In the trimester format, students would be taking five classes a semester for three semesters in a year. Those going the full four years could possibly end up graduating with 30 credits. This would allow students to take more elective courses, and new courses approved include Intro to Web Design and French Cooking and Culture.

Schools around the state have looked more closely at their own curriculum since the arrival of new Michigan Merit high school graduation requirements. High school students need four credits each in math and language arts, three credits each in science and social studies, two credits in world language, one credit in physical education and health, one credit in visual, performing and applied arts, and must have an online learning experience course.

For example, in the science program at Almont, students could take Biology A the first trimester and continue in Biology B in the second trimester. Completing both would count for the one credit needed to complete the science requirement. If they choose, students could continue on to the C portion, learning about ecology and environmental studies, and use the class as an elective.

Many of the courses will be the same as before, but simply titled differently for pace and topical interest to accommodate a three-semester year.

"The challenge will be staffing," Zott said. "We're looking forward to no additional costs."

In their research of trimester scheduling, department heads got advice from other school districts involved with the model, including locally at North Branch High School and across the state at Spring Lake High School.

"The staff and I are very happy the board has taken action," said high school principal Robert Watt. "We worked very hard this past year to research, organize and prepare for this change. We're looking forward to go from this point and make preparations for students in the fall."

A parent forum will take place at 7 p.m. March 11 at the media center in the high school to discuss general information about trimester scheduling.

Jeff Hoard can be reached at (810) 664-0811, Ext. 8127 or jeff.hoard@lapeergroup.com.