Aurora De Santiago, a third grade teacher at Nichols Elementary School,  said the new Frisco ISD calendar will allow her more time to prepare for her class and for her students to be more refreshed.

“[The new calendar] is an opportunity to have extra time off and also for staff to have effective times to meet together to purposefully create and develop a curriculum and assessment that can improve student achievement,” De Santiago said.

The FISD board of trustees approved a new school calendar in January in which students will be in school for fewer days but receive more class time. The new calendar will be implemented in the 2016-17 school year.

Under a new state law, districts are required to have a minimum of 75,600 minutes of instruction rather than the required 180 days of school.

FISD put together a calendar that has students in school for 174 days. To do that, the district had to adjust the school day for elementary and high schools, said Doug Zambiasi, FISD assistant superintendent for support services.

There will be 10 minutes added to the elementary school day and five minutes added to the high school day. The middle school day will stay the same.

“That allows us to reduce the number of days in the calendar and still meet the minimum requirement,” Zambiasi said.

De Santiago said the extra time will not be difficult for her students to adjust to and said the extra time will be beneficial for both her and her students.

“We have 30 more hours to spend with the kids, and I do think that adds up,” she said. “Those five minutes extra, I can get one thing done that I would have had to make shorter on a typical day.”

The calendar provides a break every month of the school year for both students and staff, which De Santiago said is especially beneficial during the springtime.

Usually between spring break and the end of school, students do not have any breaks.

“During springtime is the time where [students] begin to realize summer is coming, and it’s the hardest to keep them engaged, even though learning is happening,” De Santiago said. “And I think having that break for students and teachers is wonderful, and I think parents appreciate it as well.”

FISD Parent Melinda Samberson has three children, two of whom will be in middle school, and the other in elementary school next year.

Samberson said she is happy to see her children have extra days off from school and in exchange for more classroom time.

“It’s a wonderful trade-off and [this calendar] is also helping our teachers,” Samberson said.

She said the new schedule will have teachers refreshed and in the right mindset.