Students know LTMs as days where they can get a few extra hours of sleep, or a morning where they can go to CityPlace with their friends. However, teachers know them as mornings full of meetings and Marzano madness.

Learning Team Meetings, or LTMs, have taken place twice within nine school days, on Oct. 8 and Oct. 20. LTMs are typically monthly for Palm Beach County high school students, allowing for teachers to meet with administrators during the morning and to teach their classes in the afternoon. During LTMs, students arrive to school three hours later than they would on a regular school day.

The LTM on Oct. 8 was extended, meaning that classes did not begin until 2:30 p.m. and various assemblies took place beforehand. The LTM on Oct. 20 was a normal length, as classes began at noon. Until the bell rang, teachers and administration were in the Media Center in meetings concerning Marzano, the scale method, and other teaching instructions. The increased frequency of LTMs is having mixed effects.

According to the Palm Beach County School District’s website, “the focus of [LTMs] is the exploration of knowledge and/or strategies that address curriculum, instruction, assignments, and assessments and their relation to improving student achievement.”

Yet, in practice, LTMs have been taking away teaching time. Third period has been kept off of the schedule for LTM days, and when it is on the schedule, the period is kept short.

“Third period probably has more homework and less teaching time because of LTMs,” english teacher Valerie Bauer said. “I don’t see [those students] as much. They have to finish some classwork at home, whereas with my block classes, they get more time to explore certain areas.”

The next LTM is on Nov. 5 and will be a normal length.