Sachem To Extend Elementary School Day

The Sachem Central School District announced in a letter to parents on Friday it will be extending the school day for its elementary schools starting next year.

Sachem will be adding the additional time to the beginning of the school day, with the school day at Merrimac and Nokomis going from 8 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and the late buildings going from 8:45 a.m. to 3:15 p.m.

"Currently, the school day for the elementary students in Sachem is one of the shortest of the surrounding school districts, which poses some unique challenges for our instructional program. For the better part of the past decade, there have been efforts to restructure the elementary day to create a school day that best meets the needs of our students. Through great collaboration with our staff, we were able to accomplish this for next school year. We are confident that the changes to the school day will allow us to offer a more comprehensive overall program aimed at developing the whole child," Kenneth E. Graham, superintendent of schools, said in a letter.

According to the school, the additional time will "enable us to increase the instructional time for our special area classes (music, art, PE, library, speech and resource room), and it will give us the opportunity to make enhancements to our music offerings."

The extended day will also allow students to "continue their instruction in English language arts, math, social studies, science and health, while providing additional opportunities for student exploratory activities in areas such as technology, mindfulness, STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art and mathematics), enrichment, academic support, group play and free play.

The school district will deliver a presentation at the March 20 board meeting and a parent informational session on April 2 at 7 p.m. in the Seneca auditorium.