PENDER COUNTY — A controversial school district schedule is back before the Pender County Board of Education.
READ MORE: Pender board members backpedal on vote for three-tier bus schedule
On Wednesday, PCD Chief Officer of Auxiliary Services Michael Taylor presented the PCD committee of the whole with three options for an alternative bell schedule. All options would stagger schools’ start and end times across the district to alleviate the district’s limited number of bus drivers running double and triple routes. The district currently requires teaching assistants to serve as bus drivers as well.
A similar system was presented to the school board last year for implementation in the 2023 and 2024 school year. The board initially voted in favor, but withdrew that approval due to parent pushback. Many complained the schedule would put their students at school too early or late, that it was unaligned with their work schedules or was incongruent among multiple students.
However, district staff maintain pursuing a three-tiered bell schedule is its best option to get kids to school on time and avoid bus driver burnout.
Taylor gave the board the results of a parent survey on three options for a tiered schedule. The most popular schedule, option B, received 37.7% of approval. The middle schools would start the earliest at 7:30 a.m., elementary kids to follow at 8:15 a.m. and high school at 9 a.m. Release times would be 2:30 p.m., 3:15 p.m. and 4 p.m., respectively.
Taylor pointed out several problems with this plan. A high school start time of 9 a.m., he said, would present a conflict in schedule for students participating in AP and Cape Fear Community College courses.
“Additionally, moving our traditional high schools to a nine o’clock start time will also force us to establish five or six standalone early college routes, which would then, of course, negatively impact one of the main goals of this process of reducing human capital,” Taylor said.
Option A was close behind at 34.8 %. It has elementary students starting at 7:30 a.m., followed by high schools at 8:15 a.m. and middle schools at 9 a.m. Release times would be 2:30 p.m., 3:15 p.m. and 4 p.m., respectively.
Taylor told the board option A meets the “one goal of providing the highest level of academic opportunity for our students.”
Option C received the least favor at 27.5%. High schools would start at 7:30 a.m., middle schools at 8:15 a.m. and elementary schools at 9 a.m. Release times would be 2:30 p.m., 3:15 p.m. and 4 p.m., respectively.
All options would accomplish several goals, Taylor said, including reducing established double routes and congestion in the Topsail feeder pattern. As well, it truncates the number of TAs driving buses and opens opportunities for full-time bus drivers, in turn reducing the amount of buses needed to transport the current number of students. The change would also help maintain the district’s efficiency rating, which determines how much funding it receives.
Taylor said the district has also been in discussion about expanding staff childcare for students who attend a school that has a different grade level than their parent teaches.
“We all know that this is a multi-faceted problem,” board member Beth Burns said. “And we gave you guys the problem and said we need a solution and you’ve come up with one and we, personally, would like to thank all of you for all the time that you have spent on this.”
The board will take up the schedule for vote at its February meeting.
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