Classes at Pacoima Middle School begin at 7:56 and end at 3:04. Except on some Tuesdays when classes let out at 1:34. Marshall High in Los Feliz ends at 3:14. Patrick Henry Middle in Granada Hills starts at 7:57.
It's enough to make a parent's head spin, especially for those who must drop children off at different schools with different schedules. And let's not even talk about the parents who then must get to work. On time.
But there's a reason that Los Angeles schools don't neatly start at 8 and end at 3. However, the explanation is complicated -- and that's even before learning the lingo.
The campus calendars sent home to the parents of the Los Angeles Unified School District's 742,000 students can be nearly incomprehensible. So parents shouldn't feel bad if they don't understand the terms used.
Question: So why don't all schools start and end at the same time?
Answer: Administrators and teachers at every school are free to set their own bell schedules, as long as they accomplish one thing: Nothing may cut into students' instructional time. But they also need to set aside time for faculty meetings and training sessions. And they do that mostly by tweaking when the day starts and ends.
It works like this: The state education code requires schools to provide a set number of instructional minutes during a traditional 180-day school year. Required class time varies depending on grade level -- and many districts, including L.A. Unified, exceed them -- but state law ranges from 36,000 minutes a year (200 minutes per day) for kindergarten to 64,800 minutes a year (360 minutes per day) for high school.
To provide teachers and staff members with professional development and meeting time without losing instructional minutes, schools shave time off teachers' preparation periods in the morning and afternoon by starting classes a few minutes early. That allows schools to "bank" time without losing instructional minutes. A school will begin at 7:56, for example, "banking" four minutes per day to be rolled into a larger block of time for meetings later.
Q: Why do so many L.A. Unified schools schedule their banked time days on Tuesdays?
A: In the past, schools could select whatever day they wanted to end classes early and send students home so administrators could hold staff meetings. But this became confusing and difficult, particularly for parents with children in different schools. As a result, the district mandates Tuesdays as the day when "banked" time can be used.
