Southampton Contemplates Accepting Grant To Extend School Day

The Southampton School District has been approved for a $2.6 million state grant aimed to give students more time in school—and it is in the process of deciding whether to accept it.The grant would mean increasing the number of school hours for elementary and intermediate school students by approximately 300 hours a year.The offer is part of the Extended Learning Time initiative from Governor Andrew Cuomo’s office, which is dedicated to closing the achievement gap statewide in two core subjects, English language arts and math. The district would have the option of extending the school day—over 180 days, that would mean an additional hour and 40 minutes to each school day—or extending the school year to add the 300 hours. The grant would help cover the costs associated with the additional classroom time.On Monday afternoon, District Superintendent Dr. Scott Farina released a statement to district parents calling for volunteers for a committee that would outline the pros and cons of the grant, which the district is under no obligation to accept.“Prior to officially accepting the grant, our plan is to establish a committee of parents and teachers to study the viability of accepting the funds,” the statement reads. “At this time, we are asking for volunteers of parents with children entering kindergarten through grade eight this September, as well as [Southampton elementary and intermediate school] teachers, to serve on the committee.“Until the district solicits the appropriate feedback, no decisions will be made to extend the school day at Southampton Elementary School or Southampton Intermediate School,” the statement says.According to Dr. Nicholas Dyno, the assistant superintendent for instruction, the grant is a part of New York State’s effort to evaluate the traditional school day. The district would get $2,572,402 to expand the school day by at least 25 percent, an initiative that would be implemented for the September 2015 school year.This week, Dr. Dyno said the district submitted the grant application last fall with sample schedules, all focused on extending the school day rather than the school year. He added, however, that nothing is final, and the district has several options.“We are talking about forming this committee of parents and teachers to explore the best way this program could function, if we have one, and to see if it is even a viable option for our district,” Dr. Dyno said.Currently, elementary school students are in school from 8:20 a.m. through 3:30 p.m., while intermediate school students are in class from 7:40 a.m. to 2:40 p.m. The district will consider the impact on students, teachers, and parents to adding time at the beginning of the day, at the end of the day, at both ends, or not at all.The first step in making a decision about the grant, Dr. Farina said, is to form a committee of dedicated community members. As of Tuesday morning, the district already had roughly five parents who were interested in the joining the committee. A date for the first meeting has not yet been set.The other districts to receive grants are the Lackawanna City School District, which received $542,370; the Utica City School District, $4,104,000; the Yonkers School District, $3,149,620; the South Seneca Central School District, $735,420; the Auburn Enlarged City School District, $871,5000; the Syracuse City School District, $3,075,000; the East Ramapo Central School District. $1,293,500; and the New York City Department of Education, which received $7,601,326.Anyone with more questions about the grant, or interested in joining the committee, should contact Dr. Farina at 591-4510, or Dr. Dyno at 591-4545.“We want people who are interested in this issue and have something to add to the conversation,” Dr. Farina said. “We would like a nice cross-section of our community.”