Arlington ISD Adding 9 Minutes To School Days

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ARLINGTON (CBSDFW.COM) - Students in Arlington are returning from winter break on Wednesday only to spend more time in the classroom each day. So, if your kids think that the days seem longer, it might not be in their heads.

The Arlington Independent School District is adding nine minutes to each school day throughout the rest of the school year, in hopes that there is a big benefit in the end. The extra nine minutes throughout the year will add up to two full days by the time that summer rolls around.

The schedule changes are being implemented because the State of Texas does not measure the school year in days, but rather in minutes -- 75,600 minutes, to be exact.

According to the Arlington school district's logic, if there is bad weather throughout the remainder of the school year, students will not have to make up those days. But if there are no bad weather days throughout the rest of the school year, all classes will end two days earlier than originally expected.

"We saw this opportunity," explained Leslie Johnston with the Arlington ISD. "Our parents sometimes have issues with those weather makeup days added on to the end of the school year, so we thought this was a good opportunity with our students and parents and staff."

Instead of dismissing at 3:20 p.m. in the afternoons, elementary schools will now be let out at 3:29 p.m. each day. High school students are not affected by the schedule change since they are already in class for more than the state-required time each day.

The United Educators Association represents about 3,000 teachers in the Arlington ISD. The union's executive director stated that the change was discussed with the school board, and most teachers liked the plan. They see it as a way to get instructional time added before standardized testing in April, as opposed to tacking extra days onto the end of the year.

Parents found out about the schedule change over winter break. "That's okay. That's alright. I don't mind at all," added parent Marlie Espinoza. "It's okay with me."

"I would rather do that than have days at the end of the school year," said parent Shawn Pritchard. "It cuts into summertime."

"If I get out of school earlier, then that means more summer to me," said sixth-grader Sabrie Clark. "I don't really mind. I like school."

But not all Arlington ISD parents are on board with the idea. "Trying to get homework done, get there, get to therapy. She also has piano lessons. We have to sign up for those at the beginning of the school year," elaborated Anna Salinas of her daughter's already busy schedule. "We get there with two minutes to spare as it is now. She's not going to make it on time."

The school district has already decided to make these changes year-round starting next school year. Some other DFW districts have taken notice and started considering similar schedule changes as well. The Texas Education Agency said that it is starting to see many school districts across the state bank time earlier like this, to get the minutes requirements out of the way sooner.