District changes late-start days

Maricopa United School District’s middle and high school students can forget about sleeping in two school days a month for the remainder of the year.

MUSD officials have changed their late-start days to early-release days. Currently, on the first and third Wednesdays of every month, middle school students start class at 11 a.m. while high school students began at 9:55 a.m.

“We were seeing attendance issues at the high school on the late-start days,” said district spokesman Tom Beckett.

However, beginning in January, those start times will revert to the same as on a standard school day, and the release time will be wound back at the high school to 12:22 p.m. and 2 p.m. at the middle schools.

In addition to a move aimed at improving attendance on those days, Beckett said the change would save the district some money associated with transportation costs.

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