Brandon Twp.- Not so fast.
Public outcry against a proposed change to the starting and ending times of school days at Brandon Fletcher Intermediate School has prompted school officials to call a meeting regarding the matter.
Superintendent Lorrie McMahon and BFIS Principal Jeff Beane will take public input at 6 p.m., March 25, in the BFIS cafeteria, 300 South St., for all parents of incoming fifth and sixth graders.
‘We will go back and look at all our options again,? said Beane. ‘At this point, we’re very open to looking at information, because people say there is other research. We will look at information on sleep patterns and the changes kids go through from childhood through the teenage years.?
Beane has said he and his staff have been looking at changing the start time of school for the past year, mostly for academic reasons. He cited an easier transition to middle school, but also said that while research indicates teenagers need more sleep and learn better in the afternoon, younger children are more ready to learn in the morning.
During a school board study session on Feb. 23, McMahon and boardmembers discussed a change that would begin in September, with BFIS students starting school at 7:15 a.m. and finishing at 2:20 p.m. The fifth and sixth graders would also ride the bus with seventh through twelfth grade students, as it used to be a few years ago.
Currently, intermediate school students start school at 8:40 a.m., end at 3:45 p.m. They ride the bus with kindergarten through fourth grade students, which has caused concern among school officials.
Transportation Director Betty Martin said there have been more discipline problems on the buses in the three years intermediate students have shared buses with younger students.
Another issue prompting examination of a change is how late students arrive home and the time crunch with after school activities, programs, dinner, and homework. Right now, the latest time an intermediate student is dropped off by the bus is about 5 p.m. With an earlier start time, they would get home around 3 to 3:30 p.m. The earliest time a child would be picked up would remain the same? about 6:15 a.m.
But several parents at the March 9 school board meeting spoke out opposing the change, citing a variety of problems they have with it, including childcare after school and their children riding the bus with high schoolers.
‘I’d have to get my 10-year-old up at 5:30 a.m. to make the bus,? said Kim Blitchok. ‘The kids would walk down a dark road and stand at the bus stop with high schoolers. I don’t want my daughter down there, exposed to sex, drugs and alcohol talk. It’s not the kind of education intermediate school kids need.?
Blitchok is also concerned about the amount of traffic generated from a time change and brought up the possible return of after school problems at the library located next door to the intermediate school.
Fran Runnells, representing the library, echoed that concern. Faced with large numbers of children coming to the library after school in recent years, the library dealt with hungry and bored children, as well as vandalized furniture, bathrooms, and more.
‘We’ve had 100 kids in the library after school before,? Runnells noted. ‘We tried to do the best job we could, but our new policy is children in sixth grade and under can not be unattended. You can’t send them here for childcare…. We don’t have the staff or money and can’t do our jobs serving all patrons.?
One father at the meeting said a time change would mean having to get another hour-and-a-half of childcare per day, costing his family another $2,000 per year. Besides being an economical issue, he said his children would not get the sleep they needed with the new schedule.
‘In general, I don’t feel we’ve had changes made in the village where we’re more equipped for handling these kids at 2:20 in the afternoon,? said Molly Barratt-McCartney. ‘Many don’t go home on buses and they’re just not being supervised. It’s great if they go home and have down time and are supervised, but there are many who are not. We’ve seen that, the schools have seen it, the businesses have seen it. They’re too young to be released at 2:20 without something planned. Mr. Beane has suggested after school activities but with them getting up at 5:30 a.m., we’d have to see how many would stay for that.?