By Jaiya Brown, FOX23.com News Staff
OWASSO, Okla. — A new state law is bringing a small schedule change that Owasso Public Schools leaders said could have a big impact for students this school year.
Starting this fall, elementary students in the district will get 40 minutes of recess each day—double to the time they had before—under a new Oklahoma law.
However, the Oklahoma State Department of Education also said recess can no longer count as instructional time, creating a challenge for districts as they try to add more recess time without changing the entire school calendar.
“That’s what sent all of us school districts into a little bit of a tither trying to figure out how are we going to do this and so close to the school year because many of us had our calendars set, our bell schedules already set,” explained Dr. Margaret Coates, the Superintendent of Owasso Public Schools.
District leaders said they found a solution by making what they described as the smallest change possible: adding one minute to the school day to meet the state’s instructional time requirement.
Coates said, “I know it’s so small. That’s what we were trying to do is just to make the smallest change possible and we felt like that would be a small change, that it really would not be felt by students, by teachers, by parents. That minute does add up. Every minute adds up. We were just trying to meet the requirement of 1,086 hours and we did it, barely. 1,086.9 is what we have.”
Under the updated bell schedule, elementary schools will now dismiss at 3:46 p.m., while secondary students will dismiss at 2:46 p.m.
Parents said the additional recess time could make a difference, even as the schedule shift raises questions about how the extra minute will be used.
“It really just comes down to what is that extra minute being applied to?” asked Carter Barnett, an Owasso resident and parent who attended Owasso Public Schools when he was a student. “Is that going to help them extend their time? Maybe get one more answer or even one more question out to their teachers or maybe just a few extra seconds to get to the next class, maybe even use the bathroom? It’s a little confusing, but at the end of the day we understand that it’s for our children’s benefit. I really hope that this does kind of better the way things are going with Oklahoma’s education. At this point, we’re willing to try anything.”
The updated bell schedule will take effect when students return to class next month.
District leaders said families with questions about the new schedule are encouraged to reach out to their child’s school before the first day.
