At one of the Albany schools, the reader board outside asks passersby to keep the pending bond issue in mind. The next line says there’s no school this Thursday or Friday. It’s an unfortunate juxtaposition that illustrates two facts: Yes, the Albany schools need the improvements the $55 million bond issue would fund. And regardless of that, considering everything that young people ought to be learning, the number of days should be expanded too.

The cost of school improvements is not going to go down, and there’s nothing frivolous on the list of bond projects. Voters have reason to bite the bullet and authorize this work now rather than later, when it will cost even more.

As for the school year and the number of days in class, the school district explains that all the schools meet or exceed the state requirements for instructional time.

The requirements are at least 405 hours a year in kindergarten, 810 hours a year in grades one through three, 900 hours in grades four through eight, and 990 hours a year in high school.

The Albany school system schedules 170 days when pupils are in class. As every parent of a school child knows, there are frequent interruptions. This month alone, there was no school on Friday the 13th or the following Monday. And for students, this week is over after classes are dismissed on Wednesday.

The school district newsletter notes that it offers 178 “instructional days,” and that four of those consist of staff development and four others are set aside for parent conferences. State regulations allow schools to count those days as instruction even though no actual instruction is taking place, but the Albany schools meet the hours requirement even without this dodge.

It is true that the calendar is in line with the state requirements, but it does not follow that class time is enough to accomplish the purpose. Statewide assessments suggest that large numbers of students need more time to study important fundamentals such as reading and math. Maybe more time isn’t all they need, but it’s hard to see how they can get better without at least a few more days in class. (hh)