School to change hours

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Tiffany Colburn
  • 39th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
INCIRLIK AIR BASE, Turkey --  The Incirlik American School will be changing the starting times of classes starting Oct. 9.

The current school start times are 7:40 a.m. to 2 p.m. for elementary students and 7:40 a.m. to 2:45 p.m. for middle and high school students.

"The new schedule will be 7:55 a.m. to 2:15 p.m. for elementary students and 7:30 a.m. to 2:15 p.m. for middle and high school students," said Mr. Raynard Eddings, IAS principal.

The new school hours will allow the students and staff to participate in more activities after school.

"The school needs to dismiss as a unit school in order to facilitate school-related collaborations," said Mr. Eddings.

Having all of the grades released at the same time will help the school become more cohesive and help the staff work as one school.

By not having the ability to come together as a school prevents IAS from being a unit school, said Mr. Eddings. We are staffed as one school and could no longer sustain operations as two.

The school will be offering support for before and after school activities and help the children when arriving to school and leaving.

"There will continue to be bus monitors at the school, but we are always looking for more volunteers to help," said Laurie Garner, IAS administrative assistant.

When the new school schedule goes into effect, some parents may find it hard to drop the children of at school later time, but the IAS staff is willing to help.

"The school will support those families that need to drop off children early in every way possible," said Mr. Eddings.

Although the school day is being cut shorter by 20 minutes for the high school students, the children will still be in school longer than most other students.

"For the high school and middle school we have 90-minute block classes with the exception of the last period," said Mr. Eddings. "Most Department of Defense schools are 85-minute block classes."

"Change is not always easy, but IAS believes that with support from base members, the transition to the new school hours will be smooth," said Mr. Eddings. "I appreciate all of the support from the community in making this transition."