High school will return to seven-period days

Starting in the 2026-27 school year, Newcastle High School will move away from its current block schedule to return to a seven-period day, the school board decided at its March 31 meeting.

Superintendent Brad LaCroix said the move is an attempt to “correct-size” the district, anticipating that class sizes will shrink, and that some staff members are retiring or resigning. By moving to a seven-period day, both middle school and high school staff will be better able to share programming responsibilities.

“It just gives the district a little bit more flexibility,” he said.

LaCroix said that even though the middle school and the high school haven’t experienced drastic enrollment reductions recently, he believes the district currently has no more than 730 students.

“It’s an attempt to let the staff get ready,” LaCroix said.

The district will prorate graduation requirements, as it did when it moved from a seven-period day schedule to the block schedule more than two decades ago, according to LaCroix. For the 2025-26 school year, seniors will continue to need 28 credits to graduate. Each following year, that quantity will decrease by one, until it reaches 24.

Students can earn up to 28 credits by the time they graduate, so every year, they could conceivably fail to earn one credit and still graduate on time, LaCroix said. He said that he believes that is “awfully lenient” and the district might discuss that policy at a later date.