Proposed Bell Schedule FAQ's

Though the purpose of the proposed bell schedule change is to better support academic performance of older students and to better align with guidelines from the CDC and American Academy of Pediatrics, very few questions were asked about projected outcomes in those areas. During the community forums, most questions were in two categories:

-Impacts to sports
-Impacts to student transportation

IMPACT TO SPORTS

Q: Will high school athletes miss more class time as a result of the proposed change?
A: The amount of class time high school athletes miss depends on several variables. One variable is the time in which athletes leave campus for away games.

Currently, high school athletes are leaving campus for local away games (playing other schools in the District) well before the end of the school day, requiring them to miss class. This is because the Transportation Department has to transport high school athletes to their away games before transporting other students throughout the District home from school.

The proposed change will decrease the amount of class time missed for local away games because high schools will have the latest school day end time.

Currently, when teams travel to long-distance away games, athletes miss afternoon classes to travel to the game. Because of the distance for some away games, students travel three hours or more to the game. The proposed bell schedule ends the high school day 35 minutes later than the current schedule. Therefore, under the proposed bell schedule, students will miss an additional 35 minutes of class time for long-distance away games.


Q: How does the proposed bell schedule impact practices and conditioning for high school sports?
A: Since the proposed schedule starts the high school day later than it currently does, the option for before school practices and conditioning can be more widely used. Some teams already have before school practices and conditioning. The proposed schedule gives those teams more time for before school practices and may make this a viable option for other teams allowing them to avoid the afternoon heat. Practices held after school would need to start 35 minutes later than they currently do.


Q: How does the proposed bell schedule impact middle school sports?
A: Since the proposed schedule ends the middle school day earlier, practices, conditioning, and games can start and end earlier. This is a huge benefit for middle school athletes as middle school fields are not as well-lit as high school fields.


IMPACT TO TRANSPORTATION

Q: How does the proposed bell schedule impact the Transportation Department?
A: The proposed bell schedule creates a three-tier bell schedule which allows the Transportation Department to focus all resources on transporting one grade level at a time. This improves the Transportation Department’s ability to deliver students to school on time and home in the afternoon in a reasonable amount of time.


Q: Will the earlier start time for elementary schools require elementary students to be at the bus stop earlier?
A: One of the byproducts of the proposed bell schedule is increased efficiency in student transportation. Though the school day will start earlier for elementary school students, many may have later morning bus stop times. The proposed schedule creates a true three-tier bell schedule allowing Transportation’s resources to be focused on transporting one group of students in a given time frame. These improvements equate to later morning bus stop times and shorter bus routes.


Q: Will Magnet students have shorter bus rides?
A: One of the byproducts of the proposed bell schedule is increased efficiency in student transportation. The proposed schedule creates a true three-tier bell schedule allowing Transportation’s resources to be focused on transporting one group of students in a given time frame. These improvements equate to more resources to support students attending schools outside of their neighborhood-zoned schools. The additional resources should decrease the length of time magnet, ESOL, and Pre-K students spend on the bus.


Q: Will high school students get home really late in the evening?
A: One of the byproducts of the proposed bell schedule is increased efficiency in student transportation. The proposed schedule creates a true three-tier bell schedule allowing Transportation’s resources to be focused on transporting one group of students in a given time frame. These improvements equate to on-time pick-up at the end of the school day and shorter afternoon bus routes. We anticipate the latest afternoon drop-off time to be before 5:30 pm.

For more information, please click the link to view the Adjusted Bell Schedule Proposal Presentation: Adjusted Bell Schedule Proposal.pptx or click to view the Proposed Bell Schedule Video: Bell Schedule Proposal.mp4