Seattle, WA
Seattle Public Schools scraps plan to switch bell schedules
Seattle Public Faculties will maintain its present bell schedule however warned bus route disruptions had been more likely to proceed at the beginning of the 2022-23 college 12 months.
Editor’s notice: The above video on a proposal to vary Seattle Public College bell schedules aired on April 25, 2022.
SEATTLE – After a wave of pushback from households, Seattle Public Faculties has determined to not change its bell schedule subsequent 12 months.
The district was contemplating transferring to a three-tier bell schedule and staggering college begin occasions to offset challenges from a scarcity of bus drivers. Underneath the preliminary plan, college students might start college as early as 7:30 a.m. or as late as 9:30 a.m.
In a press release Monday, the district mentioned it will proceed with a two-tier transportation system for the 2022-23 college 12 months, which can maintain begin occasions the identical for elementary, Ok-8 and center college college students. Highschool college students might even see a 10-minute change in begin occasions.
“Now we have heard from many households who’re involved in regards to the proposal to vary college begin occasions,” the district mentioned.
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The scrapped three-tier proposal would have allowed bus drivers to drive extra routes, compensating for a scarcity of drivers.
Nevertheless, the district remains to be going through the identical challenges from the nationwide bus driver scarcity and warned that the beginning of the 2022-23 college 12 months will possible see the identical lowered bus service it had final fall.
In September, some Seattle Public Faculties bus routes confronted as much as two-hour delays as a result of scarcity. The district mentioned it will alert impacted households as rapidly as doable, however some mother and father mentioned they nonetheless had bother checking for updates. In October, the district suspended 142 of its 600 bus routes in response to the scarcity, which was anticipated to be compounded by Washington’s vaccine mandate for varsity district staff and third-party contractors.
The district mentioned Monday it’s persevering with to review obtainable choices for dependable transportation. It additionally plans to discover whether or not it might probably restore routes which have been suspended.
Dad and mom can proceed to offer suggestions right here.
