August 1, 2022 | Issue #8

School Day Starting Five Minutes Earlier for 22-23

A few years ago, the Department of Public Instruction (DPI) changed the amount of instructional time required by schools from total number of days to total number of instructional minutes.

There is a formula school districts are to use that address factors such as lunch time, recess, hallway passing times, early dismissal, late starts, and other such factors.

Our concern is not with 4K through 6th grade, but rather the total number of minutes of instruction for 7th and 8th grades. The chart below might better clarify the concern.

Starting at 8:35 a.m. (like we had in the past) means that one snow day results in a need to make up hours for grades 7-8. You might not even be aware of it, but this past school year we unofficially changed our start time for grades 7-8 to 8:30 a.m. just to make up the time we lost due to a snow day earlier in the year.

This worked well and did not disrupt the morning bussing schedule.

For the 2022-2023 school year we are now officially making this adjustment so that it is reflected on our website, calendar, newsletters, and actual practice.

The 8:30 a.m. start time will be for all grades other than 4K. You might ask why the other grades when only 7-8 are the real concern per DPI and the above chart. The answer is simply to provide for some consistency across the entire building at the start of the day. Again, this does not affect the morning bussing schedule. Bussing will pick up and drop off at their regular times. We learned there is plenty of time in the morning after bus drop off to get to lockers and to class for an 8:30 a.m. start.

Excited for a successful 2022-2023. 

-Dr. Mark Rollefson, Superintendent