The Comal Independent School District is changing its school hours for the 2020-2021 school year. These changes provide a 10-minute school-day extension and affect every grade level.
The new school day for elementary campuses will now be 7:35 a.m. to 3:10 p.m.; middle school campuses, 8:15 a.m. to 3:50 p.m.; and high school campuses, 8:55 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
“By adding 10 minutes to the school day, we gain four extra surplus days which may be used for unforeseen closures such as COVID-19,” explains Comal ISD Superintendent Andrew Kim.
These changes were discussed prior to this year to allow the fast-growth district to move to a three-tier transportation system which will provide more efficiency, as well as cut student time spent on buses and separate middle and high school students, who have been riding buses together.
Following the guidelines provided by the Texas Education Agency, Comal ISD will offer instruction for the new school year via two options: on-campus in-person instruction or remote learning which will include both synchronous, live virtual instruction between teachers and students, and asynchronous, various forms of digital and online learning such as prerecorded video lessons and pre-assigned work.
School begins Tuesday, Aug. 25, with an understanding that “normal” will mean taking proactive measures to ensure the health and safety of staff and students along with the implementation of a monitoring system for COVID-19 cases. The district is communicating back-to-school details with parents, students and staff.