On Monday, President Barack Obama spoke about goals in education reform and said he’d like to see a month added to the public school calendar. Obama’s call for a longer school year is generating a lot of discussion. Fifth-grader Jacolby Youngblood said he already spends more time at school than most people do at the office. Youngblood goes to the Kipp School, a charter school on the Westside of Jacksonville that focuses on low-income children. School there is in session from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m., and every three weeks, the students at Kipp School have class on Saturday. “Our rule is work hard, be nice,” Youngblood said. “We be nice to others, work as hard as we can. We give our best on everything we can.”
The Jacksonville school is one of 99 Kipp Schools in the country. Its extended hours could become a reality for public schools across the United States. The principal at the Jacksonville Kipp School, Robert Hawke, said he thinks the president has a great idea. Nationally, 85 percent of Kipp students go to college, compared to 20 percent in neighborhood schools. “There is nothing magical we are doing,” Hawke said. “We are spending a lot of time teaching our kids, and in that time making sure they learn as much as possible.”