PENDER COUNTY — Parents of Pender County Schools can now offer feedback on three options for a staggered bell schedule proposed for 2024-2025 implementation.
READ MORE: Pender board members backpedal on vote for three-tier bus schedule
The existing bell schedule has presented a series of challenges for the district, which is struggling with hiring enough bus drivers to man needed routes. This leads to late arrivals, early arrivals for scheduled double routes, shared buses among different grade levels, recruitment difficulties for instructional assistants, many of whom are require to drive buses, and additional non-instructional supervision requirements.
To tackle these challenges, the district has crafted three options for consideration. Each option ensures that no school starts before 7:30 am.
Option A: Standardized 7-hour school day for middle, elementary, and high school students, prioritizing a later start time for middle schools.
Option B: Maintains a 7-hour day, with selected middle schools on a two-tier schedule to accommodate various school needs and later high school start time.
Option C: Also a 7-hour day, striving to provide later start times for elementary students while addressing transportation challenges.
To gather valuable input from the community, Pender County Schools has launched an online survey. The survey can be accessed here.
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