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Middle and High Schools to Start 15 Minutes Later
Next School Year
Greenville, SC – The Greenville County School Board
approved the administration’s recommendation to
adjust middle and high school start times 15 minutes
later effective next school year. The Board also
directed the administration to develop a proposal to
minimize any negative impact after discussing later
start times for afternoon bus routes for elementary
magnet school students.
In 2010-11, middle schools will begin at 8:30 a.m.
and high schools will begin at 8:45 a.m. Start and
end times for elementary schools will not be
impacted, and bus morning pickup times will not
change for any K-12 student because of the change to
school start times. School dismissal times for
middle and high schools will adjust 15 minutes
later, to 3:15 and 3:45 p.m. respectively.
The recommendation to change school start times
arose because the current window of time between
elementary and secondary school start times is
inadequate, causing nearly 47% of middle school
students and 37% of high school students riding
school buses to arrive late at school.
As a result, students miss important instructional
time and interrupt class for all students. In the
afternoon, middle and high school students riding
the bus are picked up well after the end of the
school day.
Mindful of the need for many parents to drop off
their children en route to work, schools will
establish acceptable morning drop-off/pickup times
for car riders.
The State and school system have exhausted all other
means to improve bus transportation including
rerouting and adding buses when State resources
allow. A comprehensive State Department study of the
school bus transportation system for Greenville
County Schools included the recommendation as an
essential step to improve bus transportation.
Other Areas Impacted by Middle and High School Start
Time:
-Provides students with more time in the morning at
school to prepare for the school day.
Decreases the number of late buses for
transportation of special needs, NCLB, and magnet
students.
Employees’ morning and afternoon duty schedules
adjusted to provide supervision of students;
afternoon duty time is expected to decrease.
Length of school day would not change.
Increase the present bus fleet capacity with
additional bus routes. |
