School days, including the the school year, will be longer in the Minneapolis Public School District following a vote Tuesday night by the Minneapolis Board of Education.
The board voted 5 to 2 in favor of extending the school year by two weeks and adding 42 minutes to the end of each school day starting April 11. The extended days and school year calendar follows the teachers' strike that kept students out of the classroom for 15 days.
"Consistently, the Minnesota Department of Education made it clear that they would not entertain any discussion where students were not receiving their statutory rights to the minimum number of hours or days," said MPS General Counsel, Amy Moore. "The questions were posed many different times and in many different ways. The answer was consistent that it was no, and there was no option to not makeup the hours and days as required by the statute."
Despite going back and forth on the issue, board members repeatedly stated they did not want to risk possible criminal or financial penalties for non-compliance with state law requiring Minnesota districts to provide 165 days of instruction and meet certain instructional hours based on grade.
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As the board approached the vote, some attendees pushed back on the idea saying adding hours to the day and extending the school year into the summer would disrupt jobs, vacations, sports, and summer camps.
"Our voice matters and you are eradicating it and that is not fair," one attendee told the school board. "It is not fair to anyone here. This is affecting us and it is not affecting you."
Board member and treasurer Kimberly Caprini addressed the attendees, saying the board needed to abide by state law and that extending the school days and school year was not a form of punishment.
"I don't want children to walk away from this and think that there are no consequences to the choices that you make," Caprini said. "And it doesn't mean that they made a poor choice in supporting striking. That doesn't mean that at all."
Attendees pushed back, saying the board was intentionally punishing students for the strike.
"What I am doing is following the law," Caprini added. "I'm actually in a position where I'm going to lose time with my daughter because she leaves for college. I didn't graduate from college and I'm not here to make anyone feel sorry for me. We are each losing something in this moment."
Minneapolis Public Schools reached an agreement with its teachers union over the weekend. Students returned to classrooms on Tuesday.