Longer school day can be enriching experience

At 3:39 p.m., a half-dozen middle school students at Academy Prep, a private school in south St. Petersburg, Florida, tie on aprons. Eggs crack. Pots rattle. Bouillon cubes plunk into hot water. For these kids, today’s cooking lesson is chicken soup and corn bread.

By 3:39 p.m., Pinellas County middle school students are watching the final minutes tick down on a 6-hour, 20-minute school day. But the low-income, minority students in grades 5-8 at Academy Prep start the day two hours before their public school peers, and most stay two hours later. It is a long day. But unlike some public school students, the academy’s 62 students still get full helpings of physical education, music, and social studies. They’re still taking field trips. And they’re enjoying a suite of enrichment activities that would make many middle-class parents swoon: Golf. Dance. Karate with Master Kim.

A 10- to 11-hour day is crucial, says Academy Prep principal Keturah Mills. “We’re concerned about the whole child—academically, spiritually, emotionally. We need that longer day.” Read more about lengthening the school day in The St. Petersburg Times online.