MERIDIAN TOWNSHIP - Students in Okemos and Haslett will be returning to school a week before Labor Day this year.

School districts in Ingham County began discussing this option last spring. The schools wishing to add an additional week to the year applied for waivers through the Michigan Department of Education, and the waivers were granted for the next three years.

Dr. Scott Koenigsknecht, Superintendent of the Ingham Intermediate School District, said his school wanted to apply for the county-wide waiver to better align their schedule with nearby colleges and universities.

His school in particular has nearly 200 students that are enrolled in an early college program.

Dr. Koenigsknecht said other school districts made the decision in order to meet state requirements for the number of school days in a year.

Although Dr. Koenigsknecht said he hasn't received any negative or positive feedback about the changes yet, he believes there are benefits from starting early.

"Research shows that long gaps away from learning, away from education, makes it that much more difficult to catch up and get back into the routine of education," Dr. Koenigsknecht said. "So if we can minimize that gap with something as simple as a week, we expect higher student achievement and higher educational outcomes because of that."