LA PORTE, Texas -- Just how destructive was Hurricane Ike to the La Porte community on Galveston Bay?

“Our Bayshore Elementary, that took six to 16 inches of water,” said La Porte ISD Superintendent Lloyd Graham.

Because of the damage, schools in LPISD were out for 12 days. However, Graham said he's decided the best way to make up most of that lost classroom time is to extend the school day.

“It will have a cumulative effect of increasing enough instruction time, core instructional time for us to be able to hopefully mitigate the impact of Ike,” said Graham.

The superintendent's plan calls for the schools to extend their daily schedule by 30 minutes. He said it's not the ideal situation, but it is the best decision for the district.

It keeps the school calendar intact and students will get the instructional time they need.

Not all La Porte parents are on board with Graham's idea. Some claim the longer days will disrupt their lives even more.

“There's a lot of people trying to get back to normal and this is just throwing their schedules way off,” said parent Rachel Hanson.

Other's rather like the extended school days.

“We have TAKS (tests) we are facing. The more time our children can get in the classroom, the better,” said La Porte mom Darla Ybarra.

The new schedule starts Monday.