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It’s that time of year again — and much to the chagrin of students and joy of parents, school is right around the corner. Yet, for Winchester, something is different this year.
In case you’re not aware, for the school year that’s about to begin in a matter of days, a numerically subtle yet practically significant change has been made: the duration of the day.
That’s right, while the length of a school day has remained unchanged for several years, moving into the 2024-25 school year, each day for the middle and high school will begin at 8:25 a.m. and end at 3:12 p.m. Grades K-5 will begin at 8:05 a.m. and run to 2:25 p.m. while Lynch students at Parkhurst will begin at 7:35 a.m. and end at 1:55 p.m. due to busing schedules.
To put that into the context of the day-to-day school routine, each class in a student’s daily schedule will now be 70 minutes long.
“It’s only an adjustment of 10 minutes,” said Superintendent of Schools Dr. Frank Hackett. “It’s five minutes at the beginning and five minutes at the end.”
Why?
The decision, impacting all Winchester public schools, was made to address concerns on the elementary level, which ultimately required a shift across the entire system for it to be put into practice.
“This is really tied to extending the learning day of the K-5 students,” said Winchester High School Principal Dennis Mahoney. “However, due to busing needs, some shared staff and other priorities, the decision was voted on to make it a K-12 change.”
During the worst months of COVID-19, schools across the nation were bogged down, and subsequently, the duration schools spent teaching was significantly reduced as they grappled with unprecedented circumstances.
At Winchester, this “time debt” as a result of COVID-19 deprived kids of valuable education time — which is being made up through this change.
Mahoney said the idea to extend the school day in order to bolster K-5 education was prompted at least 2-3 years ago. After being thought through and tweaked for feasibility, the plan to go about the change was decided by a joint committee of the educators, union and WPS leadership.
“The process is like most collective bargaining negotiations,” he said. “A need is brought to the leadership groups, different options are proposed, the union membership has conversations around the options and discussions on all sides are had. At the high school level, we presented different scheduling options with various pros and cons and ultimately, we worked with the McCall [Middle School], educators union and central office leadership to find a solution forward for our specific needs that would also work within the constraints of the change.”
Hackett said the town did negotiate with the Winchester Education Association to make the change during its last three-year contract. The union agreed to the 10-minute extension for the day.
But, he added, it’s not the only reason to increase the day. He said one of the things the School Committee has been aware of for a while now is that Winchester’s elementary school day is “quite a bit shorter” than those of surrounding communities.
Why it matters for WHS
Evidently, the most apparent impact this change will have on WHS is that the school day will be, though marginally, longer. Yet, it’s still enough for students to be unhappy about it.
“I don’t see why they had to do this. It seems unnecessary and I just hope it doesn’t mess things up,” said a rising senior at WHS, who wished to remain anonymous.
For student athletes and those involved in extracurricular activities, even an extension of just a few minutes to the end of the school day could impact attending daily practice and activities outside of school.
While Mahoney understandably declined to share his personal opinion on the change, this reality was one of the potential downsides to the decision that he made known.
“The drawback, in my opinion, is the extension to the end of the day that may affect athletics and some afternoon activities,” he said.
It’s important to note he does believe the systems in place relating to early dismissals and such will avert any potential complications, but that remains to be seen.
— Winchester News editor Nell Escobar Coakley contributed to this report.
