The school board will decide if it will add 10 minutes to the school day at its Feb. 10 meeting after feedback from input groups suggested the concept.
“We talked to over 100 people about different [schedule] options,” chief of staff Shawna Miller said. “All [of] those groups were saying, ‘Why can’t we just add a few more minutes onto our schedule so we have more flexibility.’”
The extra minutes would allow two four-day weekends during next school year, one in October and February. The school year would start a day later and end it a day earlier. The adjusted calendar would also include more teacher work days and professional learning days.
“It doesn’t actually increase instruction time,” English II teacher Kaysi Sheehan said. “It would [add] maybe two minutes per class period, and that’s not really how instruction is designed. So, by adding ten minutes and cutting three days, [it is] really eliminating three days.”
The school day is currently 435 minutes long. The meeting’s proposal would change that to 445 minutes in a day, with the new school day being from 8:15 a.m. to 3:40 p.m. STEM elementary schools — which currently have 25 more minutes than other elementary schools — will not gain extra minutes under the revised schedule.
“It’s not uncommon for a school day to be 445 minutes or longer,” Miller said. “Lewisville [currently] has the shortest school day [of the] school districts in North Texas.”
It has yet to be decided where the 10 minutes would go in the school day. Miller said the board anticipates either adding one to two minutes to class periods or adding the minutes to lunch or passing periods.
“I don’t think 10 minutes helps to make up for [the days off],” sophomore Irene Le said. “ I don’t see how they’re supposed to rearrange the schedule to fit in the extra minutes.”
A survey sent to parents asked if they would prefer the added 10 minutes. The results will be shared at the Feb. 10 meeting, but the board will make the final decision.
“If you change math class by two minutes how much do you think you would feel that impact?” Miller said. “Not a lot. But that gives a day if we add all [those minutes] up together.”
