By LILLIAN GLAROS
PHOTO CREDIT Adobe Stock photo
Prince George’s County public school students will start their school days at 7:30 a.m., 8:30 a.m. or 9:30 a.m. in the upcoming academic year.
Prince George’s County Public Schools (PGCPS) is changing start and end times for 78% of elementary, middle and high schools in an effort to reduce the frequency of school bus delays and create a more consistent schedule for pick-ups and drop-offs.
Lynn McCawley, PGCPS’ senior public information specialist, said the changes are part of an effort “to improve school bus transportation.”
For 62% of county schools, the change in the start and end of the day will shift by 15 or fewer minutes, according to PGCPS. Another 22% will not see any change, while 16% will have a bell time shift of between 16 and 45 minutes.
Last year, the school system had 13 morning start times compared with three this year and 17 dismissal times compared with six for the coming school year.
College Park parent Kelsey Easter, who has children at Robert Goddard Montessori in Seabrook, said while the new 9:30 a.m. start time will be only 15 minutes later than last year, it could cause difficulty for parents with inflexible work schedules.
“I know it’s only 15 minutes, but for parents who have to work in an office or have a commute, that’s tough on them, and then in the evening, our bus routes are notoriously long,” Easter said. “Some kids are on the bus for an hour and a half to two hours in the morning and in the evening.”
Emmett Hendershot, the principal of Paint Branch Elementary in College Park, predicted an adjustment period to the school’s new 8:30 a.m. start time, but said he doesn’t foresee a major impact on instruction. The school opened at 9:15 a.m. last year.
PGCPS has been affected by a national bus driver shortage, which meant some drivers had to take on multiple routes, leading to delays in arrival times, McCawley said in an email.
Jenni Pompi, vice president of Eleanor Roosevelt High School’s PTSA, said she has seen buses arrive so late that “kids were missing … almost the entire first-period class.”
Pompi, whose older son is a rising senior at Eleanor Roosevelt High School in Greenbelt, also has a 10th-grader at Parkdale High School in Riverdale. She said she occasionally had to drive her younger son home from school because the bus never showed up in the afternoon.
In addition to introducing the new times, PGCPS is relocating some bus stops and eliminating others; ending bus service for students who live within a safe walking distance to school; allowing families to opt out of bus service; and improving the ability of parents to track the location of their children’s buses.
Some students will have to walk farther to bus stops as the school system removes multiple locations to improve the efficiency and timeliness of buses.
