So many students are taking the Washington Assessment of Student Learning, or WASL, at local high schools this spring that schools have given up trying to offer a normal schedule.

Edmonds School District students not taking the test will have a late start and can come to school a few hours later during the testing days, March 10-13 and April 15-18.

“We have as many as 60 percent of a group of kids at a high school taking the test,” said Ken Limon, assistant superintendent, at a recent Edmonds School District Board meeting. “It has become impossible to run a regular schedule. There are so many kids testing that teachers can’t run class.”

More students are taking the test this year because some 11th- and 12th-graders are doing retakes, all 10th-graders take the test, and some ninth-graders are taking it a year early, Limon said.

During testing weeks, students will take the WASL from 7:30 a.m. to between 9:30 and 9:50 a.m. Regular classes will start at 10 a.m., and students not taking the test can come in then.

Most students will have the option of getting to school at 7:30 a.m. to do enrichment activities, but they aren’t required.

While that may be good news to sleep-deprived students, it does mean lost instructional time. Teaching time has been lost to the WASL in past years as well, when students missed class while taking the test and teachers had to find activities for partly empty classrooms.

Dan Wilson, president of the Edmonds Education Association, the teacher’s union, said he hears frustration from teachers about how much instruction time is lost to the WASL in general, including administering the test in spring.

“It’s an enormous time drain,” Wilson said.

For special needs students, whole days of instruction can be lost to taking the WASL, he said.

“Anything that disrupts, that takes teachers away from teaching kids is a bad thing,” Wilson said. “What we get out of the WASL isn’t enough to warrant all that.”

Edmonds School District buses will make two runs for the modified morning schedule, and school will end at the same time.

At Mountlake Terrace High School, morning activities offered include freshman study halls, help with culminating projects, test review sessions and other activities.

“We’re not taking roll,” said Greg Schwab, Terrace principal. “We want to offer opportunities for kids, but also recognize it’s pretty touchy to mandate it.”

The modified start time solves the scheduling problems of past years, he said.

“(The new schedule) will allow us to run a more normal schedule of classes after the test,” he said. “In years previous, we have had crazy rotations, with rotating periods.”

At Lynnwood High School, students not taking the test can come in at 7:30 a.m. for AP test preparation, among other optional activities, or come in later.

“This way kids don’t have to sit through the same presentation twice if they were in class during the WASL,” said David Golden, Lynnwood’s principal.

During March WASL testing at Edmonds-Woodway, freshmen who aren’t taking the test and who have a current D or F grade can come in at 7:30 a.m. for a study club. Others will also be able to come in and get extra help from teachers.

During April testing, the school will add more optional activities. There will be review sessions for courses that take IB and AP tests and training sessions for juniors about senior culminating projects.

Meadowdale officials did not return calls by the Enterprise deadline.

Scriber Lake High School will have no change in schedule this year during WASL testing.