At the Robert Treat Academy, students sporting blue-and-green plaid uniforms fill the auditorium at 8:30 for morning announcements.
“Have a sensational day of learning,” principal Michael Pallante says to the crowd after they sing Happy Birthday to a fellow student.
“Let’s stay focused. Let’s learn. You guys are becoming stars.”
Some students have been there since 7:30, eating breakfast and receiving extra homework help.
About 70 percent of its 450 kindergarten through eighth-grade students stay until at least 5 p.m.
The public charter school operates 205 to 210 days a year, compared with the state-required 180.
