Public board trustees defer decision on bell times
Posted Jan 23, 2012 11:19:56 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The Waterloo Region District School Board is holding off on a decision about whether to change their bell times.
The issue was discussed at the board’s meeting Monday night with staff bringing forward a motion to hold off on making a final decision until future budget deliberations. Some trustees wanted to go ahead with a final decision immediately but due to time constraints, the staff motion was deferred to the board’s next Committee of the Whole meeting on February 13th.
There were three delegations who spoke on the subject. Tracy Morency is against the changes and says she’s not encouraged by the deferral, but it does buy some time. “By deferring to the middle of February, trustees are putting themselves in a situation where they can’t just ram-rod this thing through for the next school year,” she says.
Morency insists that the consultation process needs to be broader. She says her biggest concern, “on the secondary stream, is for the kids who need to work (and) also need to balance extra curricular activities.”
The staff report proposes later start times for high school students and earlier start times for elementary students, a move that staff say could save the board $1.3 million dollars in transportation costs as long as the Catholic board approves the same plan.
The report also cites a study, done by Carleton University for the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board, that states because of biological factors, teens fall asleep later and wake up later. The researchers concluded that later school start times for secondary grades have been shown to improve punctuality, attendance and behaviour.
The proposed bell times are as follows:
Morning Bell Time:
Elementary 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m.
Senior Elementary 8:30 a.m. to 9:15 a.m.
Secondary 9:15 a.m. to 9:30 a.m.
Afternoon Bell Time:
Dependent on school timetable
No school to end later than 3:45 p.m.
tiffany.hendsbee@570news.rogers.com
