Staff Report

 

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – While many of its schools have experienced learning gains, there are still several Palm Beach County schools that would benefit from additional time each day devoted to teaching reading and writing. To that end, when school returns next month, 17 district operated elementary schools in the School District of Palm Beach County will have their school days extended by half an hour to provide additional instructional time in the English Language Arts curriculum.

The number of District schools with an extended school day for the 2016-2017 school year is down from 23 district-run schools last year.

“The reduction in the number of our schools requiring an extended school day shows that our District is moving in the right direction toward achieving our Strategic Plan goal to have each of our students reading on grade level. We will continue the work toward providing all of our children a world-class education,” said David Christiansen, Deputy Superintendent and Chief of Schools.

The additional instructional time each day is specifically dedicated to reading and writing as required by the state of Florida.

A school’s placement on the list is not directly related to a school’s grade. For example, nine of the Palm Beach County schools with an extended day this school year are “C” schools that demonstrated student learning gains this year.

The additional half hour will be added to the final bell time, moving dismissal time for these schools to 2:35 p.m. each day. School bus schedules and after school program times will be altered for these schools to accommodate the later dismissal.