LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — The incoming superintendent of the Clark County School District (CCSD) believes longer school days will help boost student reading scores, although questions remain as to what that would entail.
While advocates for the longer school day believe students would have more time to study, skeptics worry that the change could cause harm to working parents who, they say, already face time limitations.
“Right now, we have a school day that doesn’t match up with the average American workday,” said Rebecca Dirks Garcia, who has two students enrolled in the district.
Dirks Garcia, who runs a Facebook parent group with 18,500 members dedicated to CCSD, added that there are positives and negatives to a longer school day.
“I’m not opposed to extending the day or the year, but I think we have to really look at how it impacts student understanding and learning,” she said, adding that consideration must be given to high school students and their schedules.
Jhone Ebert, the incoming superintendent, raised the issue of longer school days at a community forum Monday at Rancho High School.
“In the Clark County School District, our fourth-grade students are half a year behind in reading.” Ebert said. “We need to extend the school day. We need to extend the school year. We also need to make sure we’re very intentional with the resources that we have.”
During a media conference held Thursday night, shortly after Ebert’s selection as superintendent, she said Nevada ranks near the bottom of states in time spent in the classroom.
David Gomez, a parent of three district students, attended all the superintendent candidate interviews over the last three weeks and believes longer school days are a good idea if it will increase student achievement.
“When a child starts early in education, in reading and identifying words and phonics, and things like that – their literacy goes up,” Gomez said. “As literate as a child is, the more successful they become. And I agree with her, we do need literate children.”
Ebert was part of an effort by the Nevada Board of Education to change school start times to an hour later. The previous CCSD superintendent, Dr. Jesus Jara, threatened to file a lawsuit if the effort moved forward. It was eventually paused.
It wasn’t immediately clear what extending the school day would cost.
CCSD officials say Ebert will still need to negotiate a contract with the school district and receive the approval of Clark County School District Board of Trustees before officially becoming superintendent.
