Longer School Day for R.H. Dana 6th-Graders
Sixth-graders at Richard Henry Dana Elementary School will have 22 more minutes of instruction a day starting this fall under a plan approved last week by Capistrano Unified School District trustees.
Officials will use the additional time to teach “core academic subjects” including math, science, social studies and language arts, Principal Dave Gerhard said.
Gerhard and teachers visited nearby Marco F. Forster Middle School and learned that the instructional day there totaled 336 minutes, while the days at R.H. Dana were 308 minutes long.
They then came up with the proposal and presented it to the district for approval in May. The new sixth-grade day will still be six minutes shorter than the Marco Forster day.
“This was really from the teachers and their concern with helping to prepare their students for middle school,” Gerhard said.
Teachers will not be paid more for the extra minutes of instruction. So far, parents agree with the plan.
“Many parents didn’t know the sixth-grade day was shorter than the middle school day,” Gerhard said. “We are receiving very positive feedback.”
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