Gainesville students will be in class 10-30 minutes more each day starting Feb. 7, they'll be in school two additional days in May and an April 1 furlough day will now be a school day.

The Gainesville City Schools Board of Education voted at a called meeting Friday to add the instructional time to make up for snow days earlier this month. And the April 1 day was exchanged for a Dec. 16 snow day.

Superintendent Merrianne Dyer said the plan to add time will not extend the school day, but squeezes time in by cutting breakfast, lunch and planning periods.

"We're going to change the schedule of the school day but not the hours," Dyer said. "So we're shortening the length of time for lunch, planning period times for teachers and in some elementary schools and the high school they'll start 10 minutes early, so breakfast will be shortened."

Students will leave school at the same time they do now, and the schedule will continue through the end of the year.

Dyer said the board originally looked at lengthening the school day for 48 minutes for six weeks but discovered flaws in the plan.

Classified staff, which includes nurses and critical care paraprofessionals, could not work the extended day without violating the Fair Labor Standard Act.

"In special needs classes, we would have left teachers without the assistance," Dyer said.

Another concern was that an extended day could impact after-school activities and sports.

"We wanted to keep after-school sports and activities on schedule because it also impacts other schools we compete with," Dyer said.

To get community feedback on the choice, school board members met with Parent Teacher Association groups last week. They also released a survey to parents and staff outlining options for makeup days, including using days during spring break or holding school on Saturday.

"The spring break option was wildly unpopular," Dyer said.

"Extending school four days the week of May 23 was more popular among parents than teachers. It got a lot of support, which made us think we should do that. Only if we did, teachers would have no post-planning."

She said the extra 10 minutes a day would add about 1 1/2 days of instructional time back to the school year.

Students also will now be in the classroom May 23-24.

The board also discussed ideas in the case of more snow this year.

Schools will schedule time on Saturday for teachers to provide extra tutoring. Dyer said the days would be optional for teachers.

Dyer will present a motion on the plan at the Feb. 7 school board meeting.