MILWAUKEE — Milwaukee Public Schools is hearing a proposal at Thursday night's board meeting that would push start times earlier for schools that currently begin at 7:25 a.m.
MPS hopes this will address a problem in its busing schedule.
"Under the current state, students are arriving late to school; that is the problem," said David Fifarek, senior director of business and transportation services. "Ultimately, if students are arriving late to school on a school bus, they're missing instructional minutes."
MPS schools are split into three start times, or tiers. Tier one starts at 7:25, tier two starts at 8, and tier three starts just after 9.
Buses drop off students at tier one schools, then make tier two runs, followed by tier three runs.
The problem, the district says, is that if buses arrive at tier one schools at 7:15, students aren't unloaded until 7:25, when school starts.
Students in the second and third tiers sometimes experience late arrivals because buses can't reach them on time.
Watch: MPS proposal to make start time earlier, hoping to fix busing issues
"We experienced a phenomenon effectively called compression, where you just don't have enough time between the tiers to run a route," Fifarek said.
This is where the proposal comes in. The district says that if schools start earlier, students can get off the bus earlier and avoid late arrivals for the rest of the district.
For the majority of students, Fifarek says their bus schedules won't change because many bus routes were already scheduled to arrive at 7:15.
"Ultimately, this board item—really what this does—is codify this bell schedule for staff so that staff are there to unload students at 7:15 when buses have been, for the last two years, arriving," Fifarek said.
The proposal claims it can be implemented without additional costs. The MPS board of directors will hear the presentation during Thursday's meeting, and it could become effective next year.
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