Dear Dawg,

I've got a plan to complete the school year by Christmas! I’ve been reading up on the new legislation and came across HB 2610.  What an innovative idea! And a return to local control!! This is the one that says we have to have school for 75,600 minutes—not 180 days. So now we don’t count the days—we count the minutes. It also says we can add minutes to the normal day!

So I did the math on this.  If we go to school from 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m., that would be 840 minutes per day. With that schedule, we can finish the school year in 90 days! We can knock that out by Christmas!!  I pitched this to the board last night, and they were enthusiastic.  --WADDYATHINK?

DEAR WADDYATHINK: We think you get a good grade for math, but not so good for English Language Arts.  It doesn’t appear that you read the bill very carefully.  First of all, it says that you cannot finish the school year before May 15.  There is an exception to that rule, but only if you are a district that borders another state, and does not offer every grade K-12.

Furthermore, you cannot just add minutes as a routine matter. The bill says that you can add minutes if 1) you lost minutes due to “disaster, flood, extreme weather conditions, fuel curtailment, or another calamity”; and 2) the Commissioner turned down your request to reduce your total minutes.

Nice try!

DAWG BONE: 420 MINUTES PER DAY. 180 DAYS.  IT ALL ADDS UP TO 75,600 MINUTES OF SCHOOL!