By Eric Stock
NORMAL – High school students in Unit 5 would be able to sleep in longer, but grade schoolers would have an earlier wake-up call under a new busing schedule the school board will consider for the 2016-17 school year.
The district is looking to cut back on the number of buses to save $1.3 million per year. Superintendent Mark Daniel told WJBC’s Scott Laughlin the plan recommended by a committee of parents and educators pushes back the start of high school to 8:25 a.m. and the close to 3:30 p.m. while elementary schools would begin at 7:40 a.m. and end at 2:25 p.m.
PODCAST: Listen to Scott and Colleen’s interview with Daniel on WJBC.
“If you look at the dawn and dusk in our area, it will start getting light by 7 (a.m.), that’s key,” Daniel said, adding the plan would mean no student would have to be picked up before 7.
Currently, some high school students have to be at the bus stop by 6:20. The junior high start would be at 8:40 a.m. and would go to 3:45 p.m. The school board will review the plan at a meeting at 7 p.m. Wednesday at Parkside Junior High in Normal, with a vote expected next month.
Daniel said the district has to find a ways to trim the number of buses, noting the district has only received 70 percent of the funding that it was expecting from the state over the last seven years.
“We are receiving 70 cents on the dollar from the state,” Daniel said. “This is finally to the point we are at a structural deficit. We have no reserves. We have to do something.”
Daniel pointed to studies which show the sleep patterns of high school students prevent them from learning much before 8:30.
“Our teachers across the board believe that elementary students’ maximum learning time is in the morning and high school students later on in the late morning and afternoon,” Daniel said.
The district will also present an alternative schedule which could keep the high school start at 7:15, while junior highs would begin at 8 and grade schools wouldn’t start until 9. Daniel said the committee isn’t recommending that schedule because the start of school would be too late.
Eric Stock can be reached at [email protected].
