The Pella School Board will continue to make school calendars counted by hours after approving a resolution at their meeting this week.

Superintendent Greg Ebeling says the decision to remain on an hour-based calendar is to provide more flexibility in the schedule. The alternative, Ebeling says, would be to count days of contact with students instead.

“What that does is gives us the flexibility that if we have late starts or early outs for weather or any other reason, we can still count those hours whatever part of the day we are in,” he says.

Ebeling believes it’s more difficult to cut classes short or altogether when on the day system.

“Our biggest thing to worry about with hours vs days is if were needing flexible time and flexible days, hours gives us more of that than counting the full day or not counting the full day, because under the old schedule, if we didn’t get five and a half hours in that day, we didn’t get to count in,” he says.