Stephens Co. School System Considering Staggered Start Times

Stephens County school system staff are looking at the possibility of staggering school start times in order to reduce the number of bus drivers required in the system and save money.

Last month, the Stephens County Board of Education voted 5-2 to have staff put together a proposal for staggering school start times for the board to consider at a future meeting. Rodney Moore and Jeff Webb were the votes against the motion.

School Superintendent Bryan Dorsey said the goal is to try to reduce transportation costs as much as possible.

“It is a large budget item for us,” said Dorsey. “What that would entail is separating school times large enough so that we could run some of our staff double routes.”

Staff does not have a specific proposal yet to put forward.

However, Dorsey said in general, it would involve elementary schools starting first, followed about an hour later by the high school and the middle school.

“As we look at this, about the only functional way it would work is to do elementary first,” said Dorsey.

Dorsey said the end times would also be staggered by about an hour, with elementary schools ending first, followed by the middle and high schools about an hour later.

According to Dorsey, going to staggered start times would allow the school system to reduce the number of bus drivers from 57 down to the state-funded number of 43.

Those drivers would work more hours though, so Dorsey says any savings would not come in salaries, but on the benefits side only.

Dorsey said the maximum savings would be about $140,000 in a year.

He said staff has looked at multiple ideas for saving money on transportation and this is the one that saves the most money.

“We only save about 3 to 5 drivers,” said Dorsey about another option of going to schools starting at the same time but with a single bus route for K-12.

Dorsey says staff is aware that a change like staggering start times would potentially create other issues and challenges for parents.

He said that is something the school system is also looking at.

“We know one of the concerns might be after-school care,” said Dorsey, who added they would look at possible opportunities to minimize those challenges.

Dorsey says he hopes to have a proposal for the Board of Education on staggering start times at the Board’s next work session, which is set for next Thursday.