HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) Students at the Newtown, Conn., elementary school where 20 classmates were shot dead by a gunman last month won't have to make up days they missed after the massacre.

The state Board of Education on Wednesday granted a waiver shortening their school year from the mandatory 180 days to 177 days. The school district originally had planned a 183-day school year.

The Sandy Hook Elementary School was closed after the Dec. 14 shooting, in which the gunman also killed six adults before committing suicide.

The more than 400 students from the school returned to classes Jan. 4 at a former middle school renovated for them in nearby Monroe. They missed just six days of classes because of an already planned holiday break.

The General Assembly had passed legislation allowing for the waiver.