The Gorham School Committee (SC) voted to increase the length of the student day, starting in the 2019- 20 school year, during its regular business meeting on February 13. The K-5 student day will increase by 20 minutes and the 6-12 student day will increase by 10 minutes.
Therefore, all Gorham students will be in school 380 minutes a day. This vote occurred after a diligent review of research and feedback from students, staff, parents, and community members.
In November of 2017, the Gorham School Day Committee presented its findings to the SC. Part of the research shared in this report pointed to the fact that Gorham’s students were in school far less than neighboring school districts, sometimes by as much as 30 minutes each day.
Over the course of the rest of the 2017-18 school year, and continuing this fall, administration further researched this issue, and reviewed additional feedback from staff and parents in order to make a recommendation to the SC.
In late fall, the administrative team recommended an increase of 20 minutes to each day at the K-5 level. Due to changes in transportation routes planned for next year, Gorham will be able to extend the student day by this time without asking students to get on buses earlier, or be dropped off later than this current school year.
The administrative team also recommended an increase of 10 minutes to each day at the grades 6-12 level. This increase will be seen on the afternoon dismissal times only and will have minimal impact on after school activities and drop-off times for students at this age level.
The added time is not being “earmarked” for specific learning activity other than to ensure that it is utilized to take at least a little time “pressure” off staff and students who are currently stretched trying to accomplish so much during a shorter day.
The hope is that at the elementary levels, the additional time will allow schools to increase lunch and/or recess times and offer a little more opportunity for physical activity breaks for students. At the middle and high school levels, the hope is that this time each day can be utilized to increase overall learning time across content areas.
| School | Start Time | End Time |
| Great Falls | 8:50 | 3:10 |
| Narragansett | 8:50 | 3:10 |
| Village | 8:50 | 3:10 |
| Middle School | 8:00 | 2:20 |
| High School | 7:50 | 2:10 |
The above chart lists start and end times for each school with changes incorporated for the 2019-20 school year.