Puyallup schools to start later next year to ease transportation crunch
Puyallup School District schools will see new start and end times next school year, up to 40 minutes different in some cases.
The school board voted Monday unanimously to change bell schedules for nearly every elementary, junior high and high school.
The changes will be implemented when the state allows students to return to the classroom.
Continual late buses were the foremost reason for the change, board president Kathy Yang said.
“It feels like the adjustment has to be made or the transportation system isn’t going to be able to run,” Yang said in the Monday Zoom meeting.
The school district released the current draft of start time changes:
Eighteen of the 22 elementary schools and four of the seven junior high schools will be pushed back 15 minutes or less.
All high schools, apart from Walker, will see a delay of at least 20 minutes. Walker will continue to start at 7:50 a.m.
Woodland Elementary School will see the biggest time disparity with 40 minutes. Once starting at 8:35 a.m., the students will now begin at 9:15 a.m.
Late buses have caused many parents concern for the welfare of their children, Corine Pennington, the assistant superintendent of Business and Support Services told the board. The new schedule gives fewer drivers more routes.
Every day, at least one bus was late throughout the 2019-2020 school year, Pennington told The Puyallup Herald.
According to the draft proposed to the board, four bus drivers worked three routes in the 2019-2020 school year with 84 drivers working one or two routes. Now, 49 bus drivers will drive three routes and 27 will work two routes or less.
The change will mean 12 fewer buses and an annual savings of $440,000, in reduced routes and shifting programs. The elementary band and orchestra program required students to be driven from each elementary school to a junior high school for practice. Now, each elementary school will have practice during the school day. The district doesn’t anticipate it will need to let anyone go, Pennington said.
Puyallup Educators Association president Karen McNamara told the board there needed to be more public outreach on the issue before the vote was held. She was worried that upset parents meant repercussions.
“I know we don’t have enough bus drivers, but I don’t want to tick people off to where they don’t pass our levy,” she said, speaking of the upcoming November levy to ask voters for more funding.
Board member Maddie Names addressed McNamara’s concerns, saying that board members had received several emails on the issue. She felt the public had shared its thoughts, even during the coronavirus pandemic when all meetings are virtual.
“I feel pretty confident that the public has had ample opportunity to weigh in,” Names said in the meeting.
Board member Michael Keaton said he has seen three proposals for new bell schedules during his four and a half years on the board. Keaton said this was the least disruptive one.
“This minimized the impact on the families more than before,” he said.
Pennington told the board if it wanted to implement changes for the next school year, the decision could not be pushed back further.
Pennington said staff were stretched and the continual issue of late buses meant change needed to happen.
“I can see us getting to a point where we can’t function effectively if we continue this,” she told the board. “We are asking for liabilities that we don’t want to see.”
Yang said she felt board members’ backs were against the wall and the decision was not ideal, given the current pandemic.
“Change is always hard,” Yang told the board.
