SAN BENITO — School board members have officially adopted the new school calendar after a minor revision to a national holiday.
The new calendar calls for an earlier start time for elementary school children.
Last night, school board members voted to approve the revised calendar. School officials said the previous newly adopted calendar had a minor error that interfered with Memorial Day.
Everything that was previously approved last month will remain as is.
Because of a recently passed state law, classes will be starting and ending at different times for 2016-2017 school year. However, it only applies to the elementary schools.
The first bell for elementary students will ring at 7:25 a.m. Instruction will begin promptly at 7:30 a.m. The elementary school dismissal time will change from 2:55 p.m. to 3 p.m.
The first bell for middle school students will ring at 7:50 a.m. Instruction will begin at 7:55 a.m.
The first bell for San Benito High School and San Benito Veterans Memorial Academy students will ring at 8:10 a.m. Instruction will begin at 8:15 a.m.
Because of the recently passed state law, the school district is required to base the school calendar on the number of instructional minutes instead of the number of instructional days, Superintendent Dr. Adrian Vega said.
The state mandated converting from a 180-day requirement with a minimum of 420 minutes of instruction per day to a new schedule, which does away with the 180-day requirement but implements a minimum requirement of 75,600 minutes per school year.
They maintained the minimum of 420 minutes per day of instruction.
