European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - March 20, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 8 the stars and stripes monday March 20,1989 education Dodds to drop seven period Day by William j. Bart Anand Dave Walczak staff writers the seven period Day is on the Way out at most military overseas High schools beginning next fall officials said. According to a March 13 memo fro the school system director John Sorc Mulc secondary schools will oper ate a Sis period schedule with a five period instructional Load for  be ginning next year. Each period will be 55 minutes Long. The move by Stromple Marks an end to an Experiment begun five cars ago by former department of defense dependents schools director Beth Stephens. The school Day with seven 45-Minule periods of instruction was designed to give students More flexibility in choosing course offerings. Under the system teachers taught six periods with the seventh free for planning. But teacher unions and some Parent groups opposed the concept which is used extensively in Dodds Mcd Terra study shows decline in use of drugs by the Washington Post Washington the number of High school seniors using cocaine marijuana and pc dropped last year to the lowest level in More than a dec Ade driven in Large part by increasing fears about the dangers of even experimental drug use according to an an Nual federally financed Survey of16,300 High school seniors released earlier this month. The Survey represented the strongest evidence yet that efforts to educate Young people about the dangers of drug abuse Are starting to pay off Federal officials said. But researchers warned that the an Nual Survey conducted by the University of Michigan s Institute for social re search docs not include High school dropouts. Unemployed workers and other subgroups of the population in which the nation s drug problems arc becoming increasingly concentrated. This is great news that our High school seniors Are listening said Secre tary of education Lauro f. , too Many of our youth especially those that never become seniors the dropouts still risk their health and their future by using drugs. To so Man of them we arc not getting our message  the confidential Survey administered at 130 Public and private High school across the country found that Only 7.9 percent of the class of 1988 reported using cocaine in the previous 12 months Down from i  percent in 1987 and13.1 percent in 1985. Only 3.4 percent of the students said they had used cocaine in the past month compared to 6.7 percent of students who reported using Itin 1985. The year cocaine use was at its highest level since the annual surveys began 14 years ago. This drop paralleled similar decline sin almost every illegal drug As Well As alcohol. In the Case of marijuana 33,1 percent reported using the drug in 1988,continuing a 10-year decline that began after 1979, when 50.8 percent reported using it. Only 1.2 percent said they had used pc in the previous year Down from 7 percent in 1979, the Peak year for the drug. Nean and Pacific regions and to a lesser degree in the school system s other three regions. Shirley Olson schools representative for the National military family association applauded the change. The seven period Day can be Good but it Hasto be done with an expanded staff and  Dodds did not increase the staff or the budget to cover extra Materi als and things she said. Strum pc had proposed maintaining the seven period Day while allowing teachers two preparatory periods instead of one. However such a plan requires hiring More teachers and Pentagon Bud get officials have hinted that Congress would not authorize the $21 million needed for extra staff. In the memo there is a provision for alternate schedules which meet the requirement of 330 minutes of instruction per  but Region level administrators generally agreed last week that most High schools will offer Only six period sched Ules beginning in the fall. We Don t Sec where the message pro Vides that much latitude in scheduling a Mediterranean Region spokesman said. I Don t see where anybody is going to pick up on that  the Mediterranean Region director Robert Manring was in the United states and unavailable for comment. But the Region spokesman said Manring planned to meet with administrators this week and predicted that High school scheduling would be discussed. The Atlantic Region Deputy director Vernon Kohout said Friday that Region officials plan to Survey High schools by the end of the month to de Termine How principals will schedule classes next fall. "1 would project that most of the will opt for the six period Day he said. Few of our schools Are using the straight seven period Day this year so the adjustment won t be All that  Robert Lundgren the Germany re Gion s Deputy director said Friday that school administrators will be meeting with faculty members soon to determine a scheduling plan for the 1989-90 school year. Lundgren who attended a meeting a school system Headquarters earlier this month when the six period Day was Dis cussed predicted that most school would move to a six period Day except where faculty and administrators were comfortable with other alternatives. Marie Sainz Funaro president of the overseas federation of teachers Union said the demise of the seven period Dayis overdue. We thought it was unusual because the number of minutes of each period was reduced. So you had More periods but less being taught. It involved a work speedup because teachers were Workingman extra period but the same daily  Olson told of a situation in England where they made the seventh period during the lunch hours. So kids had the option of having the seventh period or an hour and a half for lunch. You can guess How popular the seventh period  by we x