Poudre School District staff outline options to meet new state instructional‑minutes rules; board weighs timeline

Poudre School District staff presented preliminary recommendations from an Instructional Minutes Action Team on Oct. 7 as the district works to comply with a new state data collection and statutory guidance about how instructional hours and abbreviated school days are counted.

The team’s report — released to the board and the public ahead of the meeting — offered two primary pathways for change: a system‑aligned common school day of about 7 hours 15 minutes for all levels, or level‑aligned days (elementary, middle and high school lengths that differ). Staff said either approach would add “buffer” instructional hours to absorb weather‑related early releases and meet the state’s instructional‑hours collection.

Why it matters: Colorado law now requires districts to report scheduled school day hours, actual instructional hours, recess and passing times and estimated hours planned for emergency closures; the new collection revealed that many of PSD’s elementary grades fall short of the state’s instructional‑minutes thresholds if recess is excluded from instructional time. The district must either change local policy, change schedules, request waivers or face noncompliance…