TIFTON — Tift County Schools is planning an adjustment to school schedules for this upcoming school year.

School superintendent Natalie Gore reported during the March 13 Board of Education meeting that the school system planned to implement an adjustment to school start and end times in response to feedback from teachers and school administrators requesting a longer school day.

The revised schedule would add 25 minutes to the school days for county middle schools and Tift County High School and between 25 and 40 minutes to the school days of the school system’s elementary schools, as the schools varied in start times.

With the added time, elementary schools would open at 7:05 a.m., begin instruction at 7:30, and end at 3 p.m., while the middle schools and high school would open at 7:50, start at 8:30, and end at 3:45.

Gore explained that she had reviewed the schedules of other surrounding school systems and previous schedules implemented by Tift County Schools, drafted up plans to share with school leaders for feedback, then narrowed down options from that feedback to form an official schedule.

She estimated the revised schedule would provide students between 60 to 120 hours of additional instruction across the next year.

The superintendent asserted she would be communicating with internal stakeholders leading into the next school year to adequately prepare them for the scheduling changes.