The school day will be longer this fall for nearly 5,000 elementary and intermediate students in the Vicksburg Warren School District.

Schools superintendent Elizabeth Duran Swinford said hours for junior high, high school and Grove Street Alternative School students will not change.

When classes begin Aug. 8, the hours will be 8 a.m. or 8:15 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. or 3:45 p.m. Swinford says bus routes and breakfast service will determine the times.

Hours this year at the eight elementary and intermediate schools were 8:20 a.m. to 3:15 p.m.

Swinford says parents will receive letters in July outlining the new hours. She says the state requires students to be in class for 330 minutes of instruction per day. That does not include lunch, recess or breaks.