District 308 May Move Away from Tiered Elementary Start Time

Last year Oswego 308 made the decision to switch elementary schools to a two-tiered start time to save on transportation costs.

For the 2013-14 school year the district may go back to a single start time after learning that the move did not result in the cost savings expected.

Superintendent Matthew Wendt addressed the board at Monday’s meeting about the proposed change to switch all elementary schools to an 8:45 a.m. start time from the current times of either 8:30 a.m. or 8:50 a.m.

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“We thought prior to Derrick’s presentation that we did the tier 1 and tier 2 systems was because there were significant savings. We found that is not accurate,” said Wendt.

He said since that presentation, that took place on the Monday board meeting on March 18, the district has moved forward with internal conversations with elementary principals about the change. So far, Wendt reported that have been no reports from the principals, from the transportation department or food service that suggest the district should not move forward with the time change.

“We want all to start at the same time to complement the bus ridership at the secondary level,” said Wendt.

“Changing the elementary school schedule will help us immensely in becoming more successful with our fleet,” said transportation director Derrick Berlin at an earlier meeting in mid-March.

Wendt also said that in the future, possibly for the 2014-15 school year, the district will examine having the junior highs and high schools start at the same time as well.

“If we can start all the elementary schools at the same time, we should be able to transport seven at the same time between the secondary schools,” said Wendt.

The board of education will vote at the next meeting, May 6, if to approve a single start time for the elementary schools across the district.