Longer school days coming in fall

Children are enjoying the summer for now, but as fall approaches, so will longer school days.

A court ruling in Washington that calls for 1,000 hours of instructional time each year for elementary school students is prompting local districts to change school hours. High schools now are required to offer 1,080 hours of instructional time, but most were already meeting that requirement.

In the Central Valley School District, elementary schools will start 10 minutes earlier, at 9 a.m., and end five minutes later, at 3:15 p.m., four days per week. The start time on Thursdays will be 10 a.m.

Teachers and principals haven’t nailed down what they’ll do with the extra 15 minutes, but it may involve more electronics in the classroom.

“That extra time will really allow teachers to integrate more technology,” said Sasha Deyarmin, the principal of Ponderosa Elementary School, noting that some teachers use iPads and Chromebooks as teaching aides. “It will allow more time for kids to get that deep understanding.”

In the Mead School District, elementary schools will start five minutes earlier, at 9:10 a.m., and end five minutes later, at 3:20 p.m. High schools also are gaining 10 minutes, starting at 8:10 a.m. and ending at 2:35 p.m.

Despite the additional minutes, “It’s not going to substantively change what we do with instructional time,” said Ken Russell, an assistant superintendent.

Spokane Public Schools, which had one of the shortest school days in Washington, is adding a half-hour at its elementary schools in response to the Washington Supreme Court’s McCleary decision, which held that the state is failing in its paramount duty to adequately educate children.

After finessing class schedules to fit with bus routes and extracurricular activities, the district decided elementary students will start a half-hour earlier, at 8:30 a.m. They’ll still get out of school at 3 p.m.

District spokesman Kevin Morrison said the length of the elementary school day is now up to the same level of “everyone else in the state and in the region.”

Administrators also pushed the middle school day forward 15 minutes. Those students now will start at 9 a.m. and leave at 3:30 p.m.