Keep Start Time at 8 am

Update 02/09/20: We are currently waiting to hear back from Superintendent Postlewait and her staff, namely Jeff Borowy and Jeff Scott regarding a letter and petition we presented to them. They informed us that they will include the parents of James Simons in the dialogue but that they will make the final decision soon.

Update 01/14/20: Update Announcement: Post D20 Jan. 14th meeting

CCSD recently announced that beginning in the 2020-2021 school year, James Simons Elementary start time will be changed to 7:25 AM with dismissal at 2:25 PM. 

What we want: To maintain our normal 8 am start time. 

Why: 

  • Less safe: many students walk or bike to school, and the new start time would mean that for much of the year morning commute would be in the dark on busy streets.
  • Increases tardiness: researchers have found that tardiness and absences will increase with an earlier start time.
  • Decreases performance:  published work shows students report being more sleepy and performing poorer on tests. 
  • Increased parental burden:  Working parents would need longer hours of after school care. 
  • Increased staff burden: Staff with children in other schools will have to find before care options to accommodate the earlier start time. 

What you can do:

D20 constituent board meeting update (Jan. 14th 2020)

There was a great turnout of James Simon parents for the D20 meeting. Thank you to everyone that attended. I would estimate about 10 parents made public statements before the D20 board. All of them were against the proposed 7:25 am school start time. We asked the D20 board to relay our concerns to the Board of Trustees and to the superintendent. William “Jeff” Scott (william_scott@charleston.k12.sc.us) who is in charge of busing for CCSD (https://www.ccsdschools.com/transportation) attended the meeting and made a statement regarding CCSD’s stance on the school start time issue.

Here I will share my notes on Jeff’s key talking points: (if I misrepresent or omit items please let me know danmcglinn@gmail.com)

  • In 2016, CCSD carried out a “Bell Time Task Force”. It was not made clear who exactly was on this task force but it was an internal group of people at CCSD’s transportation office.
  • The task force reviewed the published information on school start times and came to the conclusion that “all kids need sleep” regardless of age (Jeff’s words).
  • The task force recommended a two tiered bell time for the county. One set of schools starting at 7:25 am and another set of schools at 8:30 am.
  • Elementary schools were assigned earlier start times unless they were granted a waiver. James Simons got a waiver when these changes first came into effect in the county because at that time D20 did not require many buses. That has since changed which is why they are recommending that James Simons now switches to a 7:25 am start time.
  • Jeff emphasized that the key sticking point is that buses need to service multiple schools because there is not enough buses to go around. In some cases there are also not enough bus drivers but apparently D20 is in high demand for bus drivers so that is less of our issue.
  • To service multiple schools the two start times of the two schools need to be at least 65 minutes apart.
  • The bus shortage is due to the fact that the state has not supplied Charleston county with enough buses. Therefore, CCSD is also using vendors such as Durham City Buses to make up the shortfall.
  • In the D20 currently, there are apparently a lot of students not arriving to school on time and that are having to wait at the end of school for their bus. Jeff did not reference which particular schools
  • Jeff’s recommendation will ultimately come before the Superintendent who gets the final say on school start times.
  • Jeff also suggested the idea that James Simons contracts directly with a van service to provide transportation for our students would not be legal because of the state’s standards that bus fleets must meet.
  • Jeff provided us with two documents:

The key take away points for James Simons Families are:

  • This change is not set in stone but we need to make our feelings heard loud in clear if we want to be granted special exception.
  • It appears that CCSD is placing more value on logistics than on student welfare given that the published research is clear that no children should begin school before 8 am.
  • Jeff did not seem fully cognizant of our large walker community and the concerns that many families have of walking in the dark. He also did not seem to consider that a valid concern.

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