Addressing follow-up questions and conversation regarding adjusting school start times to provide for more busing

-Written by a non-politically connected Educator in the Community

As questions and commentary arose on our first article regarding staggering school start times for Berkeley Heights Public Schools (BHPS), there are questions still to be answered.

These are matters that should have been resolved from the prior Board of Education before implementation of the redistricting associated with Full Day Kindergarten in 2021.

First, the proposal of double-tiering or triple-tiering the busing makes it easier to recruit bus drivers looking to obtain more hours per shift (especially within a couple short hours in the morning and afternoon). The goal is to be cost-effective for the district. 

While the prior staggered school start time article from June 18th does not target the courtesy versus subscription busing issue, the hope is that busing would be available to more students than currently. Additionally, busing more students will help diminish the drop off line and vehicular traffic at each building!

The issue also arose for how spread out dismissal times for a parent picking up one student from one school to the next by car. The purpose here is simply for the sake of busing. Currently, dismissal times are very tight only providing a parent no more than 10 minutes at Columbia Middle School/CMS (with a 3:00pm dismissal) from Mountain Park or Hughes (each with a 2:50pm dismissal) or to Mary Kay McMillin or Woodruff (each with a 3:10pm dismissal).

If in Possibility 2 school start times were to begin as late as 9:00am for elementary students (PreK-5th grade), childcare options would need to be offered by the Board of Education to be housed at each elementary building for a fee. This matter came up at a Ridge Board of Education meeting (Bernards Township Public Schools) where their elementary schools have moved to a 9:00am arrival to accommodate for triple-tier busing.

There is the case in Possibility 2 that in its first year implementation, it turns out that the buses require less time to get from Governor Livingston High School (GLHS) to CMS then elementary, then GLHS could still begin at 7:40am, CMS at 8:10am or 8:15am, and elementary at 8:40am or 8:50am, for example. Getting the elementary start time as close to 8:35am, which is the current median arrival time between the Grades 3-5 and K-2 buildings, this would have a lesser effect on working parents. Currently, some buses drop off students at GL as early as 7:20am even with the first class beginning at 7:50am. Below is what Possibility 2 could look like if the buses drop students off at GLHS prior to 7:30am and can travel from the high school to middle school to elementary level in fewer minutes:

Possibility 2 (revised from prior article): Triple-tier bussing: One bus driver would drive three routes per shift:

The only pending matter by setting the elementary start time at 8:35am is that dismissal times would be tighter. Therefore, elementary students would remain waiting in their respective school’s gymnasium after 3:20pm (the proposed dismissal) time as it is doubtful the elementary school day would be made even longer. The only alternative to keeping the elementary dismissal time at 3:20pm would be to allow GLHS and CMS to be dismissed earlier, which would slightly cut into instructional minutes at least at GLHS.

Reasons for working families is why the previously unchanged proposed Possibility 1 may be the preferred option based on parents required to be at work by 9am or prior:

Possibility 1 (from prior article): Double-tier bussing: One bus driver would drive two routes per shift:

Again, these arrival times could be closer if it turns out the buses do not require 45 minutes between GLHS/CMS and elementary (for example, 8:00am arrival for GLHS/CMS and 8:30am for elementary, with any other detail to be worked out as well).

These are changes that Berkeley Heights Public Schools administrators and Board members should consider for the 2025-26 school year, but must be discussed throughout fall 2024 and decided on by spring 2025.

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