I wanted to
update you on where the District is with regards to making any substantive changes to
the start time at the high school. The School Committee's Start Time subcommittee has been investigating and considering ways to bring about a later start time for our high school students. Much of that work has been a follow
up to work done by previous start time committees. Last week, the committee presented
information to the school committee on what they have come up with regarding
this topic.
At last week's meeting, the SC made it clear that making a substantive
change to the high school start time was a separate issue from a possible
rotation of the elementary tiers. I know that topic has caused concern and
raised questions, but it was noted that the rotation of elementary tiers is not
contingent upon having the high school students having a later start time. As of now, the SC is acting only on the proposed
change to allow for CHS to start later and they did indeed vote to advance a
change in start time to better meet the needs of our high school age children.
This move would entail having the district move from four start time
tiers to three and, while having a major impact on the high school start time, it would also
slightly alter the start times at all of our schools. To make this proposed change happen, the
Committee voted to purchase an additional six buses to allow for the high
school and middle school to ride on the same tier. The purchase of these buses would be part of
our long term debt capital budget. The
costs associated with having six new employees along with running and maintaining six
new buses is figured into our preliminary operating budget for next year. The SC also voted to have, as part of this
plan, a transportation fee increase of $50 per rider to help offset the costs of making this
change.
If this proposal is able to be funded in the final budget, the projected
tiers would be as follows:
Tier 1- GMS-7:50-2:10
CHS- 8:00- 2:24
Tier 2*- Elementary A & B 8:35-2:50
Tier 3*- Elementary C & St. John 9:05-3:20
(*until a final decision is made on the possible rotation of the elementary/St.
John tiers, we do not know what schools will be on the last two tiers)
Whether tiers 2 & 3 were to rotate at some point is still being assessed by the SC and they plan to decide that matter soon because of the
impact it could have on staff and parents. (A recent article on the SC vote
made it appear that the rotation of elementary tiers was also voted on but it has not been
voted yet). I will keep you updated on
any new information that comes forward.