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Back to school comes early for some Dist. 59 students

It's only July, but students at one Elk Grove Village school headed back to the classroom Wednesday.

July 23 marked the first day of the 2014-15 school year for students at the Ridge Family Center for Learning, Elk Grove Township Elementary District 59's K-5 year-round school.

District officials call Ridge their "school of choice," since a lottery is held annually to determine enrollment of students from throughout the district, which includes portions of Elk Grove Village, Arlington Heights, Des Plaines and Mount Prospect.

The school operates on a balanced calendar, in which students attend the same number of school days as other district schools, but the days are spread out through the entire calendar year.

That means a two-week "intersession" in the fall, three-week break in the winter, and two weeks off in the spring. The last day of school is June 10, 2015, before students return in July for the start of the following school year.

But this year, the school day at Ridge is shorter than what parents and students have been used to: reduced from eight hours to six hours, 50 minutes four days a week, and five hours, 50 minutes on Wednesdays to account for teacher professional development meetings. District officials decided this summer to standardize class times across the district.

  Ryan Snoble, 5, of Mount Prospect, holds on tight to his mom, Kelly, during his first day of kindergarten Wednesday at the Ridge Family Center for Learning in Elk Grove Village. Mark Welsh/mwelsh@dailyherald.com
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