Fort Worth ISD trustees approved adding 30 learning hours starting next school year, students will have longer school days
Fort Worth, TX – Fort Worth ISD students will have longer school days starting next school year.
According to the district, Fort Worth ISD students will spend 15 minutes more at schools every single day after the Fort Worth ISD trustees approved adding 30 learning hours starting next school year.
Following their decision, middle and high school students will start the school day earlier, while pre-k and elementary students will stay longer in the afternoons.
The school district confirmed that this change was needed because of the new state law requiring more learning time for students who fail the STAAR test.
The trustees believe that these extra hours will help students to catch up.
Those who will still fail to deliver the needed results, will have to spend some more time at schools during the weekends, on Saturday.
“They’ll have also interventions built in during the school day, after school tutoring and before school tutoring. So we’re not going to be able to do it all just during the school day. We don’t want to do it all during the school day. That’s not something extra we want to put on our teachers only,” Fort Worth ISD Deputy Superintendent Karen Molinar said.
The longer school day for students means longer workday for teachers. That said, Molinar confirmed she is considering proposal for 4% pay raise for teacher who will now have to spend more hours at schools.
Fort Worth ISD’s new calendar also adds more teacher preparation and gets rid of bad weather make-up days.