Lorain City Schools board pauses vote on proposed longer student day after teachers raise concerns

The Lorain City Schools Board of Education on May 12, 2025 paused consideration of a proposal to lengthen the student school day after teachers, union representatives and multiple board members raised concerns about behavior supports, attendance and supervision at dismissal.

Superintendent Ross presented the district plan that would increase elementary instructional time from 6 hours, 15 minutes to 6 hours, 45 minutes, add 15 minutes to the middle school day and add 5 minutes to the high school day. "Our current instructional time at the elementary level is 6 hours and 15 minutes," Ross said. "What we're proposing is to increase that to 6 hours and 45 minutes." He said the change would add about 87 hours of instructional time across the elementary year (the district's estimate) — roughly the equivalent of 13.9 additional school days — and about 43.5 hours at the middle-school level (6.7 days). Ross also said teacher contract time would remain the same (7 hours, 35 minutes) and described proposed bus- and bell-time shifts intended to preserve transportation runs.

Teachers and building representatives urged the board to delay a vote until staff questions were answered. Gina Durie, a third-grade teacher at Emerald King, told the board that classrooms already begin instructional activity before the tardy bell and asked why a formal start time of 8:15 would change classroom routines: "If we're gonna go to 08:15, our kids should not be coming in our room then till 08:15." Teachers said adding minutes at the end of the day would reduce teachers' unscheduled time for room cleanup, planning and after-school extracurriculars and could complicate scheduling for IEP, ETR and RTI meetings that often occur outside core instructional time.

Julie Garcia, LEA president, said staff were working on a behavior flowchart and that communication about how to access supports remained incomplete: "We are working on getting that information out. We haven't put anything out yet because there really isn't anything to put out yet." Several classroom teachers and specialists told the board they had not seen finalized behavior plans and raised attendance as a related concern: chronically absent students would miss more minutes if the day were lengthened without a strategy to reduce absences.

Board members pressed for more detail about how the added minutes would be used. Some members framed behavior, attendance and staffing as separate but related issues; others asked for additional outreach to elementary staff before a final vote. After extended public comment by teachers and union representatives, the board president asked for a motion to suspend the agenda order to allow a second hearing of the public; that motion passed. Following the public input, the superintendent said he would pull the agenda item for the current meeting and return with more information at the board's May 27 special meeting. "I'm going to pull this for this meeting and put it on the next board meeting, and give you the answers that you need," Ross said.

The board did not vote on the student-day proposal on May 12. The district said the superintendent's office will return with additional details on behavior plans, transportation logistics, how planning and contract time will be respected, and the effect on after-school supervision and stipends.

The board's next meeting is scheduled for May 27, 2025, where the item will be revisited if the superintendent provides the follow-up requested by board members and staff.