RESERVE – The St. John the Baptist Parish School Board recently approved a spring semester class schedule that adds class time for students at Glade School, John L. Ory Magnet, East St. John Elementary and LaPlace Elementary.Students at those schools must make-up class time that was lost last year because of renovation delays at the Glade School at the start of school in August, and water outages throughout the east bank last December. The State Department of Education requires that students attend a minimum of 178 full class days during the 2004-2005 school year. Students at Glade School must make up two days to reach that minimum, while students at the other three schools must make up one day.Students at Glade School will receive an additional 30 minutes of instruction each day from April 4 to May 5. During this time, the school day will begin 15 minutes earlier, taking in at 7:45 a.m., and be dismissed 15 minutes later – leaving at 3:15 p.m. The extended days still allow the school system to maintain bus schedules for all the schools, according to Assistant Superintendent Wilbert Ocmond.Students at East St. John Elementary, Glade School, John L. Ory Magnet and LaPlace Elementary will go a full day on May 25 and a half day on May 26 to make up time lost due to the water outages in December 2004.

Originally, May 25 was scheduled to be a half-day, and May 26 was set aside as a record keeping day for teachers only. This original schedule will still be applicable for students at those schools in the district that do not have to make up time.

“We understand that these changes may cause some inconvenience, but we believe they present the best solution to our problem. We had considered shortening holiday vacations, but so many people already had travel plans for those times. This new schedule will enable us to meet state requirements and create the least disruption for our parents and teachers,” said Ocmond.

For more information about schedule changes, contact the respective school offices or the central school office at 1-800-296-1106.