Parental Input

Red Clay Parents Going Nuts Over New School Start Times!

Red Clay Consolidated

With next to no input from parents, Red Clay Consolidated School District released information about bus schedules for elementary, middle school, and high school students earlier this week.  Parents are NOT happy.  The district says they are doing this to improve their bus issues.  Which I get, but you don’t blindside parents with drastic changes.  The next Red Clay board meeting should be VERY interesting!

2018-2019 Three-Tier School Schedule Information

In an effort to improve bus transportation service throughout Red Clay, the district will reorganize its bus routes and move to a three-tier school schedule in the fall of 2018.

Because high school and middle school students will no longer be picked up at the same time, a three-tier system reduces by more than 50 the number of drivers needed to cover all routes.

This will address a critical, nationwide bus driver shortage, reduce the amount of time many students spend on the bus (see charts below with sample times), and free up personnel to provide additional bus aides on routes.

In order to implement these service improvements, school start times will need to be shifted. Changes include:

  • The high school instructional day will start approximately 5‐10 minutes earlier, at 7:25 a.m.
  • The middle school instructional day will start approximately 30 minutes later, at 8:05 a.m.
  • The elementary school instructional day will start approximately 10 minutes later, at 9 a.m.

Schools will make every effort to keep drop off and car rider lines times the same. The district will share additional details over the summer.

“Our transportation department worked very hard this past year to try and provide reliable bus service while facing the worst driver shortage in history,” said Superintendent Merv Daugherty. “Unfortunately, we don’t believe those efforts solved the problem. We are not happy with the status quo, so we are making some needed adjustments in school start times. The center of this plan will be the outstanding men and women driving our buses every day.”

Below are charts showing how the new system may impact the typical Red Clay student. Please look for the summer transportation letter for your child’s bus stop and time.

If you have any questions or concerns, you may call the Office of Communications at 302-552-3716.

 

 

SAMPLE HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT
School Year Bus Stop Time Bus Ride Length School Arrival Time
2017-2018 6:30 a.m. 60 minutes 7:30 a.m.
2018-2019 6:30 a.m. 45 minutes 7:15 a.m.
SAMPLE MIDDLE SCHOOL STUDENT
School Year Bus Stop Time Bus Ride Length School Arrival Time
2017-2018 6:30 a.m. 60 minutes 7:30 a.m.
2018-2019 7:05 a.m. 45 minutes 7:50 a.m.

 

SAMPLE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL STUDENT
School Year Bus Stop Time Bus Ride Length School Arrival Time
2017-2018 7:45 a.m. 60 minutes 8:45 a.m.
2018-2019 8:05 a.m. 45 minutes 8:50 a.m.