End of semester pushed back due to new legislation and COVID-19

Story by Kaia Monaco – Staff Reporter

In the many changes schools are implementing due to the Coronavirus pandemic, semesters were swept along as well. Semester start and end dates have been pushed back weeks later than originally planned.

Semester one regularly starts in mid-August, ending around mid-December, and totals about 89 days. This was already set to change in 2020, as a new Missouri bill stating school could start no sooner than 10 days before the first Monday in September moved the start date of the first semester to August 26 and the end date to mid-January.  

This year’s start and end dates were pushed back further still as “LSR7 and other school districts in the area determined that it would be prudent to delay the start of school to 9/8/20 due to COVID-19,” Karla Barnhill, registrar, said. 

The end of first semester moved to January 21, 2021, in order to account for all 89 days. With semester two starting the next day and usually totaling about 88 days, the end of school was pushed from mid-May to May 26, 2021. 

With all these new changes, first semester finals have been canceled, much to students’ and teachers’ relief. 

“It’s a great opportunity to ease stress, continue learning material and make both students’ and teachers’ lives easier,” Austin Yarbrough, senior, said.