Olathe to change school start times to ease bus driver shortage. Some parents are worried
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After a year of contentious debate, the Olathe school board is finally poised to vote on changing school start times so that bus drivers can take on more routes amid ongoing labor shortages.
But some parents, especially with elementary aged children, worry the proposed later bell times would put them in a bind, concerned they will struggle to find morning childcare and make it to work on time.
Since last year, the district has been studying changing school times to address the bus driver shortage. Stakeholder groups have considered 20 possible bell schedules, with several parents raising concerns along the way. But officials say they’ve now come up with new school start times that should be manageable for the majority of families.
“When we look at change to the system, obviously change is hard and it affects everyone,” Jim McMullen, deputy superintendent of organizational operations, told the school board earlier this month.
He added that adjustments are focused on, “getting all students to and from school, and providing equitable access for all students for all programming. But also all the additional things we do on a daily basis in our K-12 schools to provide great enrichment opportunities for our kids,” such as field trips and activities.
The school board is expected to vote next month on staff’s recommended bell schedule, which would have high schools starting first at 7:40 a.m., followed by middle schools at 8:20 a.m. and elementary schools at 8:55 a.m. High schools would end the day at 2:40 p.m., followed by middle schools at 3:20 p.m. and elementary schools at 3:55 p.m.
The switch would be implemented next school year.
Right now, middle schools start first at 7:50 a.m. and end at 3:10 p.m. High schools start at 8 a.m. and end at 3 p.m. And elementary schools start at 8:20 a.m. and get out at 3:40 p.m.
The proposed change is based on months-long research, study groups and surveys with parents, staff and students. Officials were ready to recommend a new schedule for the school board to vote on in April, but amid parent concerns, delayed a decision and continued to study the issue.
McMullen said the newly proposed schedule received the most support from secondary parents and staff, and would be the least disruptive to employee work schedules. He said it also offers a long-term solution to the driver shortage and would save the district an estimated $750,000 as fuel, equipment and labor costs rise.
Staggering bell times, officials say, would mean fewer bus drivers are needed because they would have the time to complete up to three routes each day. Right now drivers can only make one or two trips.
The district is short nearly 30 drivers — and that’s on days where no one calls in sick — last school year leading officials to cut services and implement “rolling blackouts” for some routes, requiring families to find alternative transportation on those days.
Elsewhere across the Kansas City metro, districts have eliminated routes and cut services due to the shortage of drivers.
District surveys showed that secondary families preferred the earliest start times. But elementary families and staff overwhelmingly supported a different proposal that would have those students starting earlier, at 8:20, and middle schoolers starting at 8:55.
“It’s terrible. Every elementary parent I’ve talked to, unless they are a stay-at-home parent, says it’s horrible,” said Olathe mom Ronee Hollrah, who has two elementary students. “Right now, I get my kids dropped off by 8:20 and get to work by 8:30. But if it changes to 8:55, I don’t know how I’m going to get to work. I have meetings that start at 9.”
Hollrah said the free bus system isn’t available to her family because they live too close to their school. And she doesn’t want her children to walk because they live near busy intersections.
“We do after-school care for my kids right now because my husband and I both work,” she said. “We will most likely now have to add before-school care next year as an expense if we’re able to. But childcare facilities are now very limited in the number of people they can take.”
Amanda Reese, a mom of two high schoolers and an elementary-aged child, said, “I am personally concerned about whether I will have a job next year.”
“If the board changes start times, I wouldn’t get to work until after 9, which would make me very late,” she said. “I would still need to leave early, but would have to leave by 2 to pick them up. Even if I keep my job, I am an hourly employee so I would be losing money anyway.”
McMullen told the school board the district is considering before school care options for elementary students.
“That was frankly the biggest variable that kept coming up, before school care for students and with a later start time what that looks like,” he said, adding that Johnson County Parks and Recreation, the district’s before and after school provider, has been engaged in the research process, meeting with elementary groups to talk about a potential increase in demand.
“There’s a lot of options that we’ll continue to work on heavily over the next semester,” he said. “And it’s pretty much everything’s on the table, whether we look at bringing in another provider if Johnson County Parks and Rec feels they can’t meet the increased demand. Or whether that is offering some positions for staff to fill in and help with that.”
Reese also said she’s worried about her oldest child, who will be a senior next year, missing out on before-school marching band practice if high school starts earlier.
“This is something she has done for the past three years, something she enjoys, how she makes friends and is a huge passion for her,” Reese said, worried that band practice could be moved to after school, which her daughter “cannot do because she works. How will this option affect other students who want to pursue multiple extracurricular activities?”
McMullen told the school board the district is considering options for adjusting marching band practice, either by adjusting the schedule or requesting a special use permit from the city, which has a 7 a.m. noise ordinance, so that the band can play outside earlier.
Some others are less concerned about the potential bell schedule change. Lacie Palma-Baker, a parent and teacher in the district, said that she believes it’s most important that the district offers access to resources for as many students as possible. Her family, she said, will find a way to make it work.
“I’m responsible for getting all four of my kids to school on time and we don’t have access to the school bus. And I still have a 7:30 contract start myself,” she said. “We’ve paid nannies, we’ve paid JCPRD, we’ve asked friends for help with carpooling, we’ve done all the things. Hell, even I take some of the kids to school and they wait the 20 minutes inside because they can.”
She said while the change will be an inconvenience, “it’s really an opportunity to give every kid in this district a fighting chance to get out of here with something better under their belts.”
By comparison, the Shawnee Mission school district already uses staggered bus times like Olathe is considering. In that district, high schools start at 7:40, middle schools at 8:45 and elementary schools at 8:10.
In Blue Valley, high schools start at 7:35, middle schools at 7:51 and elementary schools at 8:40.
The Olathe school board will consider changing school times at its next meeting on Dec. 7.
This story was originally published November 13, 2023 at 6:00 AM.
