Eugene School Board members voted Wednesday to extend the 2018-19 Eugene district school year further into June.

District staff announced earlier this week that students and staff in the Eugene district likely will have a longer school year following four consecutive snow days resulting in district-wide school closures. The calendar changes, which require school board approval, pushed the end of the school year from June 13 to June 18.

The approved change will add three days to the end of the school year and one day would be added back on March 15, which was originally scheduled as a no-school day for professional development and planning, according to the district website.

June 19 will now be a grading day for teachers. High school graduation dates will remain the same.

In addition to the extended school year, district staff pushed back the start of the third trimester by two weeks to April 1 to "balance learning time" in each trimester. The third trimester was originally set to begin March 18.

Several students at the board meeting Wednesday asked that district staff follow through with their proposal to add more time to the current trimester, arguing that the snow days left them unprepared for finals testing.

As part of the change, March 14 now will be a regular school day for middle and high school students and March 22 will be a no-school grading day for middle and high school students.

Students in Oregon are required to receive a certain amount of instructional minutes per year, depending on on their grade level. The state Department of Education requires that students in grades K-8 receive 900 instructional hours per school year. In grades nine to 11, students must receive 990 hours during a school year. High school seniors are required to complete slightly fewer instructional hours, at 966.



Instructional time, as defined by the state, is “time during which students are engaged in regularly scheduled instruction, learning activities or learning assessments that are designed to meet common curriculum goals and academic content standards required (by law) and are working under the direction and supervision of a licensed teacher.”

Alisha Roemeling on Twitter @alisharoemeling. Email alisha.roemeling@registerguard.com.