Cedar Rapids schools to add 20 minutes to day for remainder of year

CEDAR RAPIDS — School days will be 20 minutes longer starting later this month to make up for time lost to snow days, the Cedar Rapids Community School District said Monday.

Schools will start 10 minutes earlier and end 10 minutes later starting March 30. This district lost 14 instructional hours this year when winter storms and freezing temperatures led it to cancel or delay school.

This is the first year the district has based its calendar on instructional hours, rather than instructional days, after a 2013 state law allowed that change.

Adding minutes to the school day allows the district to honor its published calendar rather than extending the school year further into June, superintendent David Benson said.

'We've been planning on this and have discussed it in the district since we went to hours on the school calendar,' Benson said. 'It's been widely known that we were going to adjust time after spring break to accommodate for lost time.'

The change could lead to some overtime for paraeducators, Benson said, but it does not affect teachers' overall work hours because they did not work on days when school was canceled.

Bus schedules will be adjusted accordingly, a district spokeswoman said. And after-school programs will simply start 10 minutes later, Benson said.

The district last year extended its calendar into the second week of June, Benson said. If the district cancels or delays school on additional days this year, he said, the schedule adjustment could change.

Benson said middle- and high-school principals will spread the additional minutes between class periods so that some classes are not longer than others.

The district was planning to notify parents Monday night about the decision online and through automated calls, Benson said. Additional messages would be sent out closer to the end of the month, he said.

Tammy Fox, the president of the Washington High School parent teacher association, said she supports the decision.

'I'd much rather have a little bit longer day than go as far into June as we did last year,' Fox said. '(Students) just don't learn very well, I don't think, after Memorial Day.'

The district's early-dismissal time — 12:30 p.m. for middle and high schools and 1:30 p.m. for elementary schools — will not change. A full breakdown of the adjusted schedule is available on the district's website.

Union officials who represent teachers, paraeducators and bus drivers in the district did not return requests for comment.

l Comments: (319) 398-8204; andrew.phillips@thegazette.com