Submitted by Westfield Washington Schools
The Westfield Washington Schools (WWS) Board of Trustees voted Tuesday evening, March 10 to approve a transition from a trimester academic calendar to a semester calendar for Westfield schools, beginning with the 2027-2028 school year.
The 2026-2027 school year will remain on the trimester schedule, allowing time for planning, collaboration, and preparation ahead of the transition.
The move follows more than a year of research and discussion by the Westfield High School (WHS) Schedule Task Force, a group of educators who studied scheduling models, gathered feedback from stakeholders, and evaluated how scheduling impacts student learning, course opportunities, and district operations.
“One of the things I would want our stakeholders to know is just how thorough of a process we went through as a scheduling task force,” said Alexandra Mailloux, instructional coach at WHS. “As a team, we had a wide variety of educators from across the building that brought different experiences, different backgrounds, and expertise so that we really could consider all of the different variables that are impacted by a schedule.”
For many educators involved in the process, the research and analysis helped clarify the benefits a semester model could bring to students.
“At first I was not fully on board for the change because I love trimesters,” said Emily Wetzel, a teacher at WHS. “But once we did some research and started digging in with the sizes of classes and the size of the building, it made more sense to have longer classes with longer passing periods.”
The new structure is also expected to strengthen opportunities for deeper learning in the classroom while improving alignment with outside partners.
“Going to semesters for Westfield High School would be a huge advantage for our teachers from the standpoint of having more time in the classroom to go a lot deeper,” said Eric Rauch, instructional coach at WHS. “The extended time to get to know students and build relationships ultimately helps set our kids up for success.”
The change will also support WWS’ commitment to preparing students for life beyond graduation.
“The new schedule will allow us to better align with local businesses, more job training, getting our students ready to be life ready,” said Natalie Messmore, a teacher at WHS.
In addition to deeper instructional opportunities, the semester model will provide continuous learning in core subjects (no more trimester gaps between subjects like math and English) and better align Westfield schools with other local similarly-sized schools, career and technical education programs, and college-level course partnerships.
WHS and district leaders emphasize that the transition will be carefully planned over the next two school years, with continued collaboration among teachers, administrators, students, and families.
WWS will share additional updates regarding bell schedules, course planning, and the finalized 2027-2028 academic calendar with students, staff, and families as the transition process continues.
