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" Imagine how excited your kids would be to hear that they have a day off from school every week? Well, for some parents, and their\u00A0likely gobsmacked children,\u00A0that idea is becoming a reality. After a big change in state legislature and one superintendent&amp;#039;s bright idea, kids of the Olfen school district in Texas will have the choice of optional attendance on Fridays starting next fall.  The change came after Texas state legislature approved a measure switching the recording of instruction from days to minutes. Up until then, the state required 180 days of instruction, but has since changed the requirement to a minimum of 75,600 minutes each year. Falling in line, Olfen Superintendent Gabriel Zamora proposed the new school calendar at the end of last year. &amp;quot;When I saw that it was almost impossible for us to provide additional or after-school tutoring, I figured this would be a way to implement some kind of way to help those kids who needed it and the plan evolved from there,&amp;quot; he told TODAY.com The schedule will add an additional 25 minutes to instruction Monday through Thursday, and include Friday as an optional day where students can receive tutoring and other kinds of academic help.\u00A0 And parents who work full weeks and have kids too young to stay at home alone need not worry: &amp;quot;Parents who depend on a regular school week as a form of child care won&amp;#039;t be affected by the new schedule,&amp;quot; Zamora said.\u00A0 Fridays will remain a regular work day for all teachers and staff, allowing them to do their grading, lesson plans, and enter grades into the computer after tutoring, and transportation will still be offered to student five days a week \u2014 sounds like a good deal for all.  [via TODAY.com] "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/life/news/a36842/texas-school-district-approves-4-day-school-week/>