Due to House Bill 2610 passing, school start times will be adding five minutes to the school day statewide. Elementary schools will end five minutes later, and high schools will start five minutes earlier, except for Cedar Park High School which will continue with their regular schedule. New school hours for elementary campuses will be from 7:45 a.m. to 2:50 p.m. For high schools, it will be 8:40 a.m. to 3:45 p.m. Middle school hours do not change.

“I believe the earlier start time will give us more instructional time,” principal Tiffany Spicer said. “Last year our school decided to put time into our PRIDE time for extension and remediation purposes. This five minutes per day will go back into the regular scheduled instructional periods. I believe the teachers and students will benefit from the changes.”

The change in the time will start January 6, after the winter break. The legislation requires that students receive 75,600 minutes of time in school. Different than 180 days. Since Cedar Park High School, and middle schools already meet the new law’s requirements, they will not change their schedule. For Lions, Ms. Spicer will email parents with an insider on how the schedule will change. 

“I think once they realize the benefit they will be delighted to know they won’t have to make up a day if school is delayed, cancelled, or released early,” Spicer said. “Since we are making adjustments this will help us with severe weather if we experience any this season.”

One senior believes that the change won’t affect much.

“I don’t really mind; it’s five minutes,” senior Danielle Snow said. “It’s weird that they did it this year though.”