SAN BENITO — Children attending elementary school in San Benito next year will have be in class at 7:25 each morning.
Last week, the school board approved a new calendar that is almost identical to this year’s calendar, with the exception of when classes begin at the elementary level.
The district is adding 25 minutes to each day for all elementary schools. The first bell will ring at 7:25 a.m. with classes beginning at 7:30 a.m.
The change does not impact middle schools or the high school.
Superintendent Adrian Vega said a new state law mandates school districts base their calendar on the number of instructional minutes versus the number of instructional days.
As a result, the start of the elementary campuses will change in order to meet the states required number of minutes, which are 76,500.
There are 178 days in the school, with the new requirement; schools will be operating with about 429 minutes per day. That amounts to about 7 hours a school day.
We’ll have more on this story in Tuesday’s Valley Morning Star.
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