FARMINGTON – RSU 9 school directors voted 10-5 Tuesday to adopt a calendar for 2013-14 that added three more early release days for students in prekindergarten through sixth grade, making a total of 17.

The move also increases the instructional day for those students by 10 minutes, except for early release days.

The weighted vote was 675 to 297. Directors Mark Prentiss of Industry, Keith Swett of Wilton, Bill Reid of New Sharon, Wanda Soule of Chesterville and Nancy Crosby of Weld opposed. Director Betsy Hyde of Temple was absent.

Initially, several board members appeared to be on the fence about the proposal, but after discussion, they joined proponents.

The vote came after much discussion with concerns raised about students losing educational time and arriving home later, creating child care problems for parents. The board also noted that teachers and staff members need more time for training and to work with students individually and in smaller groups.

Swett pointed out that with the added early release days, students will only have 13 full weeks of school next year.

Leanne Condon, director of curriculum and assistant superintendent, pointed out that since she left the classroom in 2008, new education initiatives have increased immensely.

“The initiatives are huge,” she said.

Teacher Keith Martin told the board that teachers know they need to have students in the classroom longer. This plan does not cost the district anything and increases learning time for students, he said.

Director Dr. Iris Silverstein said the additional release days will allow teachers more time for training and to meet as a team so they can serve students better.

Members of the Education Advisory Committee, Kim Alexander, a sixth-grade teacher at Academy Hill School in Wilton, and Martin, a third-grade teacher at the W.G. Mallett School in Farmington, gave a presentation on the proposal.

“We all understand the need to increase opportunities for students and need to increase student time,” Martin said.

It is also important to increase programs for teachers for professional development and training, he said.

One of the solutions would be to lengthen the school day for prekindergarten through sixth grade by 10 minutes, except on early release days and continuing early release days for those grades and increasing them by three, Martin said.

Currently, those grades have 14 early release days, and grades 9 through 12 have nine. The latter grades would continue to have nine early release days and the lower grades would have 17 under the proposal.

The additional 10 minutes a day adds up to 1,580 minutes or 26 hours a year, Martin said.

The three early release days, at 2.5 hours each day, add up to 7.5 hours. The 26 hours minus 7.5 hours equals 18.5 hours additional instruction time over the current schedule, Martin said.

In an elementary school classroom, 10 more minutes is huge, Alexander said.

Ten minutes could mean more time for intervention and coaching students in activities such as fluency drills, high frequency word drills, comprehension passages, skip counting, math drills and quick writes.

There could also be more time to work on positive intervention behavioral skills, she said.

The additional hours could also be used to increase time for reading groups, review math games, one-on-one conferences in reading and writing and the the development of full-class social skills, Alexander said.

Currently, early release day time is used for professional learning committees, developing responses to intervention, positive behavior interventions, support and data analysis, among other initiatives, Martin said. It also creates opportunities for teachers to meet with colleagues and teachers from other grade levels, he said.

Teachers are learning to intervene when students need help and push students who are already there, he said.

Everything in education keeps changing, Alexander said. Education initiatives keep increasing. One of the new pushes is mass customized learning.

“I think we all know we are here for the kids,” she said, as well as improving their education.

[email protected]