NYS Schools May Start Opening Earlier Than September

Central New York Schools generally open the day after Labor Day and have to stay open for 180 school days before summer break but both of those facts may be ending soon.

Because we never know how many snow days that we'll get during a given year, sometimes schools have a hard time hitting their 180 days. If they don't, they get less state money than they would if they stayed open per the regulation. That said, half days don't count either as a day doesn't count unless it'sat least five hours long.

In order to solve that problem, education policy-makers are pushing for schools to start earlier than September if they'd like and to also judge the year based on hours in class rather than how many days they were in session. Lunchtimes, recesses and parent-teacher conferences wouldn't have to be quite as restricted this way either.

From a teacher's perspective, this actually sounds like a huge improvement, but if I was a kid, I'm not sure that I'd like my summer shortened!

Read more on this story at Times Union

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