Poway Unified School District will be facing tough decisions with the upcoming implementation of a state mandate requiring middle and high schools to have later start times.
The PUSD board was presented three options at its meeting last Thursday. This was an informational presentation. No decisions were made.
Senate Bill 328 was signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom in October 2019, with guidelines to go into effect for the 2022-23 school year. The new start times must be implemented by August 2022. It requires middle schools to start no earlier than 8 a.m. and high schools no earlier than 8:30 a.m. Several of PUSD’s middle and high schools have start times around 7:30 to 7:45 a.m.
PUSD uses a three-tiered bell schedule at its schools to accommodate transportation, said Tim Purvis, director of transportation. This is to allow PUSD buses to make multiple trips in the morning and afternoons. Moving to a single tier bell system would require adding more bus routes and purchasing additional buses.
Under its current system, PUSD transports 2,564 students a day in 35 buses for general education, using 30 percent of the district’s fleet, Purvis said. It also transports 801 special education students using 82 buses, or 70 percent of the district’s fleet. The buses used to transport special education students are designed to transport between four to 21 students, with up to two wheelchair locations. This is fewer than the 40-foot transit-style buses used for general education transportation, Purvis added. Special education transportation also often takes students outside their residential home school to another PUSD school having their program need, or even an outside the district program. Every year the district transports approximately 75,000 students on activity trips, including sports.
PUSD will possibly need to purchase more buses to transport general education students, or additional buses like this one for special education transportation.
(Aurora Bishop)
The board was presented three options, all with pros and cons listed. Later start times mean schools getting out later, which is a problem for student athletes who will need to miss more class time to travel to sporting events. Board members also expressed concerns about other after-school activities, which would be pushed later. This will leave less time for homework and mean students getting to bed later. Another stated concern was that later dismissal times mean sporting events would start later, which would require additional costs, like adding lighting to fields.
The first option is the “cost neutral” option, meaning there would be no additional cost to the district. However, it would require a minimum of 45 minutes between school start times to allow PUSD to maintain its three-tier transportation system. This would have elementary schools starting at 7:30 a.m. and finishing at 1:45 p.m. plus middle schools starting at 8:15 a.m. and finishing at 3 p.m. High schools would change the most, starting at 9 a.m. and ending the day at 4:15 p.m. Purvis said the late dismissal will create challenges for after-school activities and sports games. It will also mean a greater loss of instructional time for student athletes.
Option two would see the elementary school day going from 7:45 a.m. to 2 p.m., middle schools from 8:30 a.m. to 3:45 p.m. and high schools from 9:45 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. This option would have a one-time expense of $1 million and an ongoing cost of $704,156 per year, Purvis said. Option two would give elementary schools a slightly later start time and the earliest possible dismissal time for high schools. It would also give the district 45 minutes between start times, allowing the three-tier system to remain.
However, option two includes a later middle school dismissal and a projected increase in charter bus services, Purvis said. Limited facility fleet parking availability would also be an issue. Option two would impact activity trips as well. Prior to COVID-19, about 65 percent of activity trips were high school athletics. The impact of the later dismissal times means no athletic trip returns prior to 5 p.m. would be possible due to the middle school tier three dismissal. It would also increase charter bus use by about 20 percent, he added.
Option three is the most expensive option, but also the one with the least impact on students, Purvis said. It features elementary school days from 7:45 a.m. to 2 p.m., high schools from 8:30 a.m. to 3:45 p.m. and middle schools from 9:15 a.m. to 4 p.m. It is projected to have a one-time cost of $4.4 million and an ongoing cost of $1.7 million per year.
The pros of option three are it keeps the three-tier system for the mornings, offers the earliest possible high school dismissal and a slightly later start time for elementary schools. It also mediates the impact on district-supported trips, Purvis said. However, the cons are that this option will not allow PUSD to maintain the three-tier dismissal system, requiring more buses and bus routes. It also has a late middle school dismissal.
Board member T.J. Zane said his inclination was to go with option one, because this is an unfunded mandate. He added the state will only fund this mandate if it “feels the heat” in Sacramento and this is the option with the least ongoing cost. Option three’s costs are untenable, he said, and a solution needs to be found to balance out start and ending times that will not impact parents who normally drop their children off on their way to work.
Purvis said he does not personally like any of the options, but recommends option three. It has the most impact on the district, but the least impact on families, he added. While option one is cost neutral, it would be extremely problematic for high school students regarding things like after-school activities and jobs.
Supt. Marian Kim Phelps said she also thought option three was the best choice for students. Phelps said she feels the mandate really impacts students and does not think it will allow many to actually sleep in, due to needing to wake up early to do homework they could not complete the night before. She said she also thought students might now stay up until 2 or 3 a.m. doing homework if their activities run later, adding she did not like any of the options.
Board member Michelle O’Connor Ratcliff also commented on the huge impact the later start times will have on student athletes, pointing out that 65 percent of Del Norte High School students are on at least one sports team. She added that even the most expensive option is terrible, and said she does not want to vote for any of them.
Student board member Emily Bylsma said while she agrees the state should fund the mandate, the board cannot let advocacy get in the way of students. She added it would be irresponsible to have high school students get out at 4:15 p.m., because it is not viable for students in activities. Bylsma said she conducted a survey with students and received about 100 answers. The students stated if schools got out about 3:45 p.m., it would only be about an hour later than before and their activities would only be pushed back one hour. They would be able to make up staying up an hour later for homework with the later start, she added. The students said while they would not get more sleep, they would get the same amount, just pushed back.
While a decision was not made at the meeting and one is not needed yet, Purvis said purchasing new buses has a lead time of at least eight months, meaning new buses would need to be ordered in January 2022 at the latest if options two or three are selected.
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