The Revere Local School District initiated a policy as of the 2014-2015 school year, switching Revere schools to an hour-based system of educational instruction.

The Ohio General Assembly enabled schools to measure instructional time in either days or hours beginning with the 2014-2015 school year. Schools then began considering switching to the new hours-based system to measure the minimum requirement of learning time for students.

According to Revere Board Member Dana Appel, The Revere Board of Education approved an application to the Ohio Department of Education to officially switch Revere to an hour-based system during their meeting on March 17. This change took effect immediately, affecting this school year’s calamity days as well.

Interim Superintendent Dr. P. Joseph Madak worked with the Revere Board of Education, representatives from the Ohio Department of Education and the Educational Service Center, the Revere Education Association and the Ohio Association of Public School Employees Local 228 to finalize the policy presented at the board meeting on March 17.

Madak voiced some of the issues of debate over a new hour-based system.

“Some school districts who have longer days argued that requirements for them to make up calamity days should not be the same as they were for school districts with shorter [school] days. These school districts suggested that in many school years they had more hours of instruction for students without making up any calamity days than many other school districts had even after they made up all their required days,” Madak said.

Revere Board President Claudia Hower stated that the policy affects the school from financial viewpoints, helping to mitigate the costs associated with make-up days.

Appel explained the required amount of instruction hours for students and how they came into play during the policy switch.

“Under the new guidelines, school districts [per school year] are required to have a minimum of 455 hours of instructions for half-day kindergarten, 910 hours for full-day [kindergarten through sixth grade], and 1,001 hours for [seventh through twelfth grade]. Because Revere already greatly exceeds these minimums, switching to an hour-based system will provide us with much greater flexibility when faced with calamity days,” Appel said.

Board Member George Seifert spoke of the board’s cooperation with teachers to approve the policy.

“[The board had to consult] with the teachers’ union to get the switch to hours to pass. [The union] did a memorandum of understanding with the board to accomplish this goal,” Seifert said.

Seifert added that the topic fostered no negative discussion, and he believes that the policy switch is a “good change.”

The policy allows Revere Schools to use up to 68 hours of time for calamity days, which is roughly equivalent to eleven school days. The policy is also effective immediately, theoretically giving Revere eleven calamity days for the 2014-2015 school year.