students will appreciate this time to get caught up on homework. We urge parents to make dental and other appointments on Wednesday mornings. We have designed a morning common planning period, rather than an afternoon, because so many of our students participate in after school activities. In addition, an afternoon common planning period would create problems for those students attending the Career Center. It was virtually impossible to work out the schedule. We attempted to avoid shortening the student day on either Monday or Friday, fearing we would see a rise in student absenteeism on those days connected to a week-end. This, too, was a risk we did not want to take. Wednesday morning seemed the most logical choice which created the fewest potential problems. Q. WHAT ABOUT LOST CLASS TIME FOR OUR STUDENTS? A. The high school day has been extended on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday to insure that we meet both State of Michigan and North Central Association requirements for student contact time. Our new schedule does both. Our elementary schedule has far exceeded -- and will continue to exceed, by nearly 200 minutes per week -- state and N.C.A. recommendations for student instructional time. (Keep in mind that a better coordinated curriculum will eliminate overlap and repetition of units; class time will be better spent with a coordinated K-12 curriculum!)