Longer days in class mean fewer days in school

By Chris Schultzcschultz@lakegenevanews.netWILLIAMS BAY — Starting Sept. 29, Williams Bay students in junior and senior high school will find their school days 18 minutes longer.But the payoff will be that their their school year will be shorter by a week.The Williams Bay School Board on Monday took advantage of a state rule change that dropped the minimum required 180 days of school.However, districts are still required to provide a required number of minutes of instruction.The change allows districts to lengthen their school days and shorten their school years, said Williams Bay School Superintendent.The change will allow Williams Bay to end its school year on June 5 rather than June 12, Anderson said.Anderson said the district had to make a similar modification last year to get in the required minutes of instruction due to the district’s five snow days.The new schedule at the junior/senior high school will have students starting five minutes earlier, 7:30 a.m. instead of 7:35 a.m., and ending their day 13 minutes later, 2:50 p.m. instead of 2:37 p.m.The daily schedule at the elementary school will stay the same and does not need to be changed since there are already enough minutes built into their daily schedule. Anderson said that the decision was made to give students a better chance to get a summer job.Anderson said the rest of the district calendar remains the same.Winter break will be Dec. 22 to Jan. 2, Spring break from March 30 to April 3. Eighth grade graduation has been changed to June 4 and high school graduation is now May 29, Anderson said.