Once again the Bettendorf School District will measure the academic year based on hours instead of days. Monday night the board of education approved setting the length of the 2018-2019 school year at 1,080 hours.
Iowa districts can choose either 1,080 hours, or the old standard of 180 days of instruction, to meet state requirements.
Superintendent Mike Raso says when 180 days was the rule, students had to be in class at least 6 hours for it to count as 1 day.
"So for instance, if we come to school tomorrow and we have to let out early because of snow, and we let out before there's been 6 hours of instruction, we can't count that as a day of school. Whereas if it's hours, we could at least count the hours that were in that day as part of the 1,080."
And he thinks the "hours" requirement is most helpful for rural districts in Iowa where there are probably more late starts and early releases due to weather.
The current school year is the 4th in which Bettendorf has set its calendar based on 1,080 hours instead of 180 days.
