Students who attend schools inside the Oxford School District received some welcoming news last week. The district announced the addition of 14 late arrival days during the 2019-20 academic calendar. Those days will all take place on Mondays is was made possible due to a distinction given to the district by the state. 

The Mississippi State Board of Education named OSD a ‘District of Innovation’ earlier this year. Due to that distinction, the district was provided the ability to make changes to the academic calendar, such as additional teacher development opportunities at the beginning of a day, instead at the end of a school day.  

The delayed start is roughly an hour and 50 minutes in length and the district is still finalizing the bell schedule to accommodate those 14 late arrival days. Once a schedule is finalized it will be communicated to parents and guardians at a later date. 

During the selected late arrival days parents may take their student to school at the later time using their own mode of transportation, but the school buses will still run their regular schedule. Cafeterias will operate on their regular schedule and provide breakfast on the normal schedule. Students who arrive early to school campuses will be supervised until school begins. 

In addition to those changes, the district also announced Oxford Intermediate School will start at a later time of 8:30 a.m., beginning in August. Parents of students who attend OIS were sent information regarding the new time and it will be discussed at next Monday’s monthly board meeting. The change to the start time is due to helping alleviate traffic congestion once the new Central Elementary School opens in the fall of 2020.