Walsh, Boston Officials Agree to Add 40 Minutes to School Day
Boston Mayor Marty Walsh, Boston Public Schools, and Boston Teacher’s Union negotiated a proposal that adds 40 minutes to the school day, the city said Friday.
Those 40 minutes will be added on to the six hours of class for elementary school students and six hours and ten minutes of class for middle school students. About 23,000 students will be impacted in total. The system’s high schools, which have a minimum six-and-a-half hour school day, are not impacted by this change.
The extra 40 minutes a day, multiplied by the mandated 180 school days a year, adds 120 hours of teaching to schools. That equates to about 20 extra school days — or an additional month of class time, officials said.
“We know that when our students have more time to learn, they have a better chance of succeeding,’’ Walsh said in a statement.
Under the plan, teachers will be paid an annual stipend of $4,464 for the added time. That number is about 20 percent lower than teachers’ average hourly rate, the city’s press release notes. The city will be on the hook for $12.5 million annually to fund the added hours.
The proposal still needs to be approved by members of the Boston Teachers Union and then put up for a vote by the Boston School Committee. If approved, the plan will be implemented over the next three years.
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