Double sessions

An extension of the school day that enables a school to accommodate a student body that exceeds school classroom capacity. Double sessions allow a school whose normal school hours run six hours, from, say, 8:30 A.M. to 2:30 P.M., to extend its day to a total of nine hours, from 8 A.M. to 5 P.M. It then schedules classes for half the student body from 8 to 12:30 and the other half from 12:30 to 5. Although double sessions deprive all students of a full day of classes, they represent an accommodation for communities that either do not have or refuse to spend funds for fulltime schooling. Double sessions are most commonly used to accommodate kindergartens, whose education is often perceived by the public as less essential than the other elementary grades. Double session kindergartens allow schools to accommodate two groups of kindergartens in a single classroom (one in the morning, the other in the afternoon), thus freeing one former kindergarten classroom for use by older children.