A shortage of bus drivers has been an ongoing challenge for school systems across the state, including Cleveland City Schools. The projection shows it’s not going to improve any time soon. The Cleveland City Board of Education is considering changes to school start times for the upcoming school year to improve the consistency of bus routes. These options are based on recommendations from our recent transportation study and system leadership.
Director of Operations Hal Taylor shared a presentation with information from the transportation study during Monday’s school board meeting. This presentation concluded with three recommendations to adjust school start times, which could help stagger bus routes.
“The study showed that no matter what we considered, to improve our driver retention and availability we would have to adjust our start times at the schools to allow for more time to pick up children,” Taylor said.
These are the possible options for school start times:
- Option 1: Cleveland High and Yates Primary - 7:15 a.m. to 2:15 p.m., Cleveland Middle
- and Candy’s Creek Cherokee Elementary - 8:15 a.m. to 3:15 p.m., Other Elementary
- Schools - 9:15 a.m. to 4:15 p.m.
- Option 2: Cleveland Middle - 7:15 a.m. to 2:15 p.m., Elementary - 8:15 a.m. to 3:15 p.m.,
- Cleveland High - 9:15 a.m. to 4:15 p.m.
- Option 3: Cleveland Middle and Cleveland High - 7:30 to 2:30 p.m., Elementary - 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
“We know change can be difficult, especially when it impacts adults and children but this change may be imperative to ensure students receive uninterrupted education,” Dr. Russell Dyer said. “If changes aren’t considered, we could face similar problems in the upcoming school year.”
Our staff and families will receive an email with a short survey to provide feedback on these options. This survey will be open for feedback until Wednesday, March 22.