School's in session

Start days and times vary in Madison

Bill Novak  —  9/01/2008 11:26 am

Parents cheer and kids jeer, but once Labor Day ends the school year begins for most students in Wisconsin.

Here is a short primer of what Madison Metropolitan School District has in store for students starting Tuesday -- or Wednesday in some cases.

The first day of class for sixth graders in middle school in Madison is Tuesday, but seventh and eighth graders begin classes on Wednesday, Sept. 3.

For high school students, the first day of class for ninth graders is Tuesday, but sophomores, juniors and seniors don't have to hit the books until Wednesday.

Elementary schools start Tuesday, but parents should remember there are early dismissal times for all elementary schools on Mondays every week. All elementary schools will also dismiss early on Tuesday and Wednesday this week.

A dozen elementary schools begin their school day at 7:45 a.m. and end at 2:32 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, with early dismissal days ending at 1 p.m. The schools include Emerson, Falk, Franklin, Glendale, Hawthorne, Lapham, Leopold, Lowell, Marquette, Mendota, Randall and Stephens.

Twenty elementary schools begin their school day at 8:30 a.m. and end at 3:17 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, with early dismissal days ending at 1:45 p.m. The schools include Allis, Chavez, Crestwood, Elvehjem, Gompers, Huegel, Kennedy, Lake View, Lincoln, Lindbergh, Midvale, Muir, Nuestro Mundo, Olson, Orchard Ridge, Sandburg, Schenk, Shorewood, Thoreau and Van Hise.

Starting and dismissal times for high schools include East starting at 8:25 a.m. and ending at 3:30 p.m., La Follette 8:25 a.m. and 3:33 p.m., Memorial 8:14 a.m. and 3:35 p.m., West 8:12 a.m. and 3:35 p.m. and Shabazz 8:45 a.m. and 3:15 p.m., except for Monday when Shabazz gets out at 2:15 p.m.

On early release days, all high schools get out at 12:30 p.m. except for La Follette which has an 11:59 a.m. dismissal.

For middle schools, Cherokee, Hamilton, Jefferson and Toki begin the school day at 7:35 a.m. and end at 2:30 p.m., Black Hawk, O'Keeffe, Sennett, Sherman and Whitehorse begin at 7:45 a.m. and end at 2:40 p.m. and Spring Harbor and Wright begin at 8:15 a.m. and end at 3:15 p.m.

On early release days, Cherokee, Hamilton, Jefferson, Spring Harbor, Toki and Wright get out at 11:30 a.m. while Black Hawk, O'Keeffe, Sennett, Sherman and Whitehorse get out at 11:40 a.m.

Nine schools have new principals this school year, including Julie Frentz at Allis, John Burkholder at Leopold, Mary Hyde at Lindbergh, Pam Wilson at Midvale, Javier Bolivar at Nuestro Mundo, Pam Emmerich at Olson, Sarah Galanter at Stephens, Peg Keeler at Van Hise and Deborah Ptak at Whitehorse.

There also are nine new assistant principals, including Brett Wilfrid at Chavez, Randi Kubek at East, Lee Korpela at Jefferson, Mary Manthey at Kennedy, Chad Wiese at La Follette, Laura Huber at Leopold, Jim Pliner at Sennett, Sean Storch at Toki and David Watkins at West.

Questions? Answers to just about anything regarding Madison's public school district can be found on the MMSD Web site.

The Web site also has contact information and Web pages for each school, but for other questions the general phone number for the school district is 663-1879.

Bill Novak  —  9/01/2008 11:26 am