SANTA FE, N.M. (KRQE) – There is a new Santa Fe Public School schedule for the next school year. The calendar adds hours to the school day and a few more days to the year to comply with a new state law that requires kids to go to school longer.
Some Santa Fe Public School parents think the new schedule, which mainly adds hours to the school day, won’t benefit kids. “I think adding more days would be better. I think adding more time would just cause more confusion for the parents as well as the kids,” said a grandparent of an SFPS Student, Elizabeth Lennon.
SFPS announced their 2023-2024 school year calendar on Monday to follow new state guidelines. Those guidelines require students to go to school longer but allow school districts to decide on how to make that happen.
“I think adding any instructional time will be beneficial to students. One of the things at SFPS we try to push is attendance and making sure that you’re in school and taking advantage of instructional time,” said the Public Information Officer for Santa Fe Public Schools, Cody Dynarski.
The district decided to change bell times and add additional hours, especially for elementary schools. Kindergarten through 6th will be in school 20 minutes longer. While 7th through 12th grades may only see 5 extra minutes each day.
The district also added 2 days to their school year and there are 4 social-emotional learning days in the plan. According to SFPS, those days allow students to focus on themselves and not worry about grades.
“I think we got really innovative for this calendar. We pushed what we could do with the state guidance and I think we made a really great calendar that is going to be beneficial for everyone,” said Dynarski.
Albuquerque Public Schools also recently approved its academic calendar. The changes add nearly a week of schooling for students.
