Most Tarrant school districts make changes to start and end times
School supplies are bought, new wardrobes are ready, and all that’s left for parents to prepare for the start of the 2016-17 school year is a double-check of when the first and last bells ring.
Several Tarrant-area school districts are starting the school day earlier, while some have extended the school day. The reason is a change in Texas education law that no longer defines 180 days of instruction as a school year. The new requirement is 75,600 minutes of instruction, with one day defined as 420 minutes.
The change was aimed at giving school districts more flexibility in making up missed instructional days, such as snow days. Districts would not, for example, have to add days to make up for inclement weather days as they have in the past.
Arlington schools are ending the school day later. At Hurst-Euless-Bedford schools, 10 minutes were added to the beginning of the day for elementary school students. No major changes were made at junior high or high schools.
Keller schools are also adding minutes, as are Eagle-Mountain Saginaw, Everman, Mansfield and Northwest.
The Birdville and Fort Worth school districts, meanwhile, have not made changes to start or end times.
Clint Bond, Fort Worth school district spokesman, said district leaders are watching to see how the changes work for neighboring school districts.
Deanne Hullender, spokeswoman for H-E-B schools, said the district sent automated phone calls, posted the information on its Facebook pages and the district website, and featured it as the lead story in an e-news report.
“We will be sending out one more phone school messenger this afternoon,” Hullender said Friday. “We are hopeful for no tardies, but we completely understand it is a change for our parents.”
The H-E-B bus schedule did not have to change, she said.
In April, the Northwest school district moved to set longer school days.
The Star-Telegram reported that the district is adding 15 minutes to every school day for elementary and intermediate students and five minutes to the secondary school schedule. All campuses will have 435 minutes a day. With waivers for teacher work days and early release days, students will be at school 173 days instead of 176.
Staff-writers Sandra Engelland and Amanda Rogers contributed to this report, which includes material from the Star-Telegram archives.
Diane A. Smith: 817-390-7675, @dianeasmith1
School start and end times
Arlington schools are ending the day later.
Birdville school times are not changed.
Carroll is not changing its start or end times.
Eagle Mountain-Saginaw elementary schools have changed times. Tier 1 elementary schools are starting five minutes earlier, while Tier 2 campuses are ending five minutes later.
Everman schools have extended the school day by 15 minutes.
Fort Worth school times have not changed.
Grapevine-Colleyville schools have extended their hours.
Hurst-Euless-Bedford schools added 10 minutes to the beginning of the day for elementary school students. No major changes were made junior high or high schools.
Keller schools have extended the school day.
Mansfield intermediate and middle schools end five minutes later.
Northwest elementary schools have been lengthened by 20 minutes, and secondary schools have been lengthened by 10 minutes.
White Settlement schools, except the alternative campus, are starting earlier and ending later.
This story was originally published August 19, 2016 at 12:54 PM with the headline "Most Tarrant school districts make changes to start and end times."