(College Place, WA) In a Special Board Meeting held Thursday night, the College Place Public Schools Board of Directors voted to alter the daily schedules for Sager Middle and College Place High School for 2024-2025. The District has been evaluating a change to the schedule that would allow bus routes to separate elementary students from secondary students on buses as is a recommended best practice for student transport. As a result of evaluating the change, the district found it could also offset its ongoing bus driver shortage by lowering the number of bus routes daily by 23% requiring less drivers and also less buses. This will result in an easier time finding enough qualified drivers and save costs on bus purchases and maintenance.
After a committee of staff from across the district sorted through all of the possible scenarios, issues, and possibilities, and surveying over 450 students, 275 parents in person and online, and a large number of district staff, they found great support for the change. The committee members sought to resolve any issues or conflicts that came up during the process. After nearly three months’ worth of work, the team felt confident that the change was in the best interest of the students, that any issue that had been raised could be addressed, and the team voted unanimously to move forward with the proposal to the CPPS Board of Directors.
The proposal does not impact the start and end times at Davis Elementary School (Monday-Thursday 8:00-2:40, Friday 8:55-2:40), but did add a half day for teacher data collaboration on Thursday, October 17, 2024 (11:45 a.m. release). At Sager Middle School and College Place High School, the school days will be adjusted on both the morning and afternoon times. Monday-Thursday school times will be 8:35-3:20 and Friday 9:30-3:20. Currently, both schools run Monday-Thursday 8:00-3:00 and Friday 9:20-3:00. The shift in start times allows the buses to make the two loops in the morning and afternoon, allow enough time for student breakfast, and provide time for morning academic support for students.
College Place Public Schools Superintendent Jim Fry said, “This was a large undertaking from start to finish. The data we collected reinforced that the change would have a positive impact for students and our committee’s work showed we could address any issues the change created.” Fry went on to say, “I know that change will always cause a level of discomfort. We especially know that in our case, our changes impact an entire community. We are confident that we have done a comprehensive and thoughtful process and this will go very well for everyone creating exceptional outcomes.”
The District created an FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) to address a large number of questions found at: https://5il.co/2kfog
Additional questions for community members and parents can be asked at: https://forms.gle/9AMLhydCc5Bp21R47