School District Seeks Input in Proposal to Change School Start Times

The following is a press release from New Haven Unified School District:

Recognizing that traffic has increased on city streets since state budget cuts forced the discontinuation of bus transportation for students, the New Haven Unified School District is considering adjusting school start times for the 2012-13 school year.

Currently, elementary students begin school at 8 a.m., James Logan High students start at 8:15 a.m., and middle school students begin at 8:30 a.m.. In other words, parents who have children at more than one school have 15 minutes to get from site to site.

The district is considering adjusting start times to give parents 20 minutes to get from school to school.

In addition, the District is considering changing the order in which schools start. The possibilities are:

• Maintaining the current structure, i.e.: elementary schools, high school, middle schools;
• High school, middle schools, elementary schools
• High school, elementary schools, middle schools
• Middle schools, high school, elementary schools

Adjusting start times obviously means dismissal times would change as well. However, while there is considerable traffic around schools at dismissal times, traffic is not nearly as congested on city streets as it is in the morning.

The District is interested in receiving feedback from parents regarding the possibilities. To share your concerns, please go to www.districtsurvey.com.

Also at www.districtsurvey.com is the District’s survey seeking feedback from parents on their children’s education. The deadline for completing the parent survey has been extended through Friday (May 4). The 20-question survey is available in both English and Spanish. Parents without access to a computer are invited to take the survey when they visit their children’s school for any reason.

What do you think about school start times? What kind of order would you like to see the start times of the school sites?