Top Ozark school officials recently informed parents that 15 minutes will be added to the length of the day next year.
Superintendent Chris Bauman said the extra time — elongating the instructional day to six hours and 45 minutes — will be added to the staggered start times.
The new start times will be 7:30 a.m. for middle school, 7:35 a.m. for junior high, 7:45 a.m. for high school and 8:30 a.m. for elementary.
"Ozark, for a long time, has had one of the shorter instructional days," he said, noting a comparison to area districts. "Fifteen minutes is manageable. We did have to add it to the beginning of the day."
All Missouri public districts are expected to revamp their school calendars for the 2020-21 year to comply with a new state law. Starting this year, the earliest a district can start classes is 10 weekdays before Labor Day, which is Aug. 24 in 2020.
Bauman said there are multiple changes in the calendar overhaul, but the start date and the start times will be the most noticeable for families.
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"The earlier start (times) will be an impact for families," he said. "This August will also be interesting with that later start (date). There are pluses and minuses."
A major concern for Ozark officials was how to end the fall semester in December and to balance the length of the fall and spring semesters.
"You don't want to have students come back and take finals the first week of January," he said. "By adding the 15 minutes, it really gave us a better balance of hours between first semester and second semester."
The longer school day, recently approved by the school board, provided another upside: It all but eliminated the possibility of Ozark ever having to make up another school day canceled because of bad weather.
"That ended up adding 43 hours to our school year," he said. "... Because of the extra hours that we are going, we've accounted for that time that potentially could be missed."
Changes in state law require schools to be in session a minimum number of hours, not days, and that gives districts more flexibility. Prior to the change, most district calendars built in potential make-up days in case classes were canceled for bad weather.
By lengthening the school day, Ozark will be able to absorb school days canceled due to the weather and still have enough hours to meet the state's minimum requirement. That will give the district a more solid end date.
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Bauman said in recent years, the district has identified certain holidays, including Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Presidents Day, as potential make-up days.
He said starting with the 2020-21 calendar year, taking those days off will not be at risk so students and staff can participate in community activities. "We are going to attempt to let those be celebration days, as the holidays were intended."
The Ozark district also all but eliminated staff work days during the school year with the exception of one at the end of winter break.
"We pushed staff days to the beginning of the year and the end of the year, which we have not done in the past," he said. "We really tried to compress our calendar and eliminate staff days during the year and focus on instructional time."
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January 29, 2020 at 11:00AM
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Calendar: By lengthening each school day, Ozark eliminates need for make-up days - News-Leader
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