The Performance Learning Center, which will enter its second year in August, will change its schedule to offer students more flexibility, Principal Danny Gilfort told us.
Students may attend class Monday through Thursday either from 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. or 11:30 a.m. to 6:45 p.m. at 8 a.m. or 11:30 a.m.
On this new schedule, Friday will be a makeup day for days missed during the week, or if students have fallen behind on their pacing in their online courses, or need to make up time in their internships or job shadowing, Gilfort said.
Flexibility was the idea behind the PLC, which opened last year, mostly thanks to a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The school is considered non-traditional. Students adhered to a business-casual dress code and attend small classes in the business wing in the basement of the Northgate Mall. They also are required to get job training and do internships.
Ten students graduated from the PLC last year, five of which graduated on time (within four years or less), according to this cohort graduation report that was released last week. The other five students took more than four years, but are students who might not have earned a diploma at all.
Gilfort said he expects many more students to graduate in the school's second year, which begins along with other Durham public schools on Aug. 25.
