At a Staunton School Board meeting held at 8 a.m. on Friday, July 8, the board voted 5-1 to discontinue release time for Weekday Religious Education (WRE).

The release time policy was instituted in Staunton schools in 2005 and allowed students between kindergarten and third grade to voluntarily participate in a program in which they left class for 30 minutes for education on the teachings of Christianity.

It's estimated that over time, WRE results in students missing between 2 and 4 days of instructional time a year. It was because of this loss of time in the classroom that the board voted to effectively end Weekday Religious Education in Staunton by discontinuing the release time policy.

WHSV's Jared Kline is working to confirm more details with the School Board and we will provide updates as we obtain them.