Superintendent's Blog

The Change in Start Time Survey had a great response from parents with 627 parents and a few high school students participating in the online survey.

Proposal for School Year 2011-2012:

High               7:50 a.m. – 2:29 p.m.

Middle          7:45 a.m. – 2:21 p.m.

Lane               8:44 a.m. – 2:55 p.m.

Davis             9:09 a.m. – 3:20 p.m.

The overall results for the survey were as follows:

Total Response: 627
Change in School Start Time:                    Yes (458) (73%)       No (169) (27%)
Every Wednesday 3/4 Day Release:      Yes (345) (57%)       No (265) (43%)

Bedford High School :                219 Respondents

Change in Start Time:                                  Yes (168) (79%)      No (49) (23%)
Every Wednesday3/4 Day  Release:     Yes (123) (57%)      No (91) (43%)

John Glenn Middle  School : 148 Respondents
Change in Start Time:                                  Yes (115) (78%)      No (33) (22%)
Every Wednesday 3/4 Release:              Yes (85) (58%)         No (62) (42%)

Lane School:                               106 Respondents
Change in Start Time                           Yes (74) (70%)    No (31) (30%)
Every Wednesday 3/4 Release        Yes (57)  (54%)    No (48) (46%)

Davis School:                               104 Respondents
Change in Start Time                             Yes (57)  (55%)     No (46) (45%)
Every Wednesday 3/4 Release         Yes (50)  (50%)     No (51) (50%)

In terms of  “next steps,”  I will present a recommendation to the Bedford School Committee on February 15th asking that they approve this change as part of the  Calendar for 2011-2012. In addition to seeking School Committee approval, I am also working with the Bedford Education Association as part of our contract negotiations.

Next Steps: If the change is approved, I will then do the following:

1. Work with Bedford Charter to develop new Bus Routes for that combine BHS and JGMS students and create more efficient routes for Davis School in an effort  to rectify the problem we currently experience with too many buses arriving late  in the afternoon.
2. Ask the Recreation Department and Kid’s Club to work with parents to develop more Wednesday afternoon opportunities for children.

As we release the results for this survey, I want to address some of the questions and misunderstandings that were reflected in the very helpful “comments” section:

1. Why didn’t we flip the schedule for Davis and Lane with the BHS and JGMS schedule?  Two factors influenced this decision.  The first was dismissal time for the high school.  Our participation in a robust offering of interscholastic programs requires that we dismiss no later than 3:00 p.m  The second, equally compelling reason, was consideration for working parents who rely on the older students arriving home before the elementary children.
2. Why not start all the schools at the same time? The bus company cannot accommodate this change in terms of vehicles and drivers.
3. Will this change extend the school year? No.  Our statutory requirement is 180 days.  The schedule change maintains both the 180 days and the instructional hourly requirements for the schools (990 Hours BHS; 900 Hours JGMS, Lane and Davis.)
4. Why did the dismissal time for Davis change from the original proposal with a 3:30 dismissal to a 3:20 dismissal? Parents were concerned about the 3:30 dismissal being too late so we re- did the BHS schedule to move back the ending time for all schools.
5. Why did the high school needs drive the change? With a very stable student population, we considered that over the long term all of our students will benefit from changing the high school start time from 7:20 a.m. to 7:50 a.m.

Special thanks to all who provided invaluable input into this process.  I will keep you informed as we move forward.