For the 2022-2023 school year, KHS decided that one Wednesday every month they would release their high school students an hour earlier.

This made classes go from 59 minutes to 50 minutes. This 9 minute difference allows students to leave one hour earlier.

During this one hour, the teachers will have a meeting for professional development, which teaches educators new skills.

These meetings could be based around different things like exam protocol, new school policies, and much more.

The teachers and staff members will work together to complete their agendas for the rest of the month, these days are always very organized and productive.

When asked how she felt about early release days, teacher, Mrs. Sierra stated, “I think what we do during those days are very productive, I feel like it was organized as sort of a trade off for all the hours teachers already put in after school,” Sierra stated.

When asked the same question, Mrs. Wolf exclaimed, “So… I have mixed feelings about them. One, it’s nice for me to be able to get done for the day at 2:30 and not have to stay after school, but I miss out on the time with you guys. I also think it throws our schedule off a little bit, and I also feel like in a class like this [art class] where you need the whole hour to work, that it’s hard when it’s shortened by ten minutes,” said Wolf.

On the other hand, Kearsley students use this extra hour for a bunch of different things, such as studying, practicing sports, doing homework, or even doing things to rejuvenate themselves like naps. This extra hour means a lot to students.

Freshmen, Zyaire Quirk, told the reporter, “I think these days are really beneficial because it gives a break to the teachers. It gives them an hour to focus on getting grades put in and time to get the things they need done,” Quirk stated.

Junior, Emma Fessler, was asked how she feels about these days and she stated, “I love them. I love getting out earlier, even if it’s not by much,” Fessler explained.

Junior, Kelsey Lewellyn shared, “I like them, it helps me get caught up on everything.”

KHS students were also asked what they do with their extra hour on early release days, and here’s what they had to say.

Freshmen, Tyler Harris answered, “I go home and work on my dirt bike,” Harris stated.

When junior, Kelsey Lewellyn was also asked this question she explained, ” I get caught up on all of my homework that I have and any extra school work I need to get done,” Lewellyn told reporters.

Sophomore, Morgan Cronkright explained to reporters, “With the extra hour, it gives me more time to relax before I do any homework from my classes. It makes the day a lot less stressful for me as well as the other students at KHS.”

Kearsley students and staff members find that this extra hour during the early release days are very beneficial for many of them.