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Curious Why Seniors Get Out Of School Early

Given that it is the time year for high school graduation, it got me wondering. Why don't seniors have to go 180 days during the school year? Furthermore, they don't even have to make up any snow days. Why is that?  - Debbie, E. Bridgewater

On the surface it looks like schools are breaking the law that calls for kids to be in school a certain number of days each year.  Most schools let seniors out as soon as they finish their final exams, and then they show up again for graduation ceremonies.

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I checked with the state's Department of Education about this and learned that it's legal for school systems to release seniors 12 school days before the regular scheduled end of school.  That's the regular scheduled end of school....not the end of school when you add in make up days because of snow.  So that's what the schools do.  They schedule the finals for seniors earlier than the rest of the underclassmen and then they're out.  So it's all on the up and up.

But it also means that graduates this year lose out on 12 to 16 days of "learning."

What do you think about that?  Shouldn't the school systems teach these students until the true end of the year?  Are we getting our money's worth?  Or is it enough already?

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