Update on Staggered Start Times given to SDOC Board

An update on staggered start times impact on transportation was presented to the Board of Trustees for the School District of Oconee County (SDOC) at their work session meeting Monday night, by Assistant Superintendent of Operations Steve Hanvey. “We took a look at the numbers we had last year, the number of routes we ran and the length of time in which students were on the bus. One of the big reasons that we as a Leadership Team were in favor of the staggered start times was the transportation issues and the longer routes. We’ve increased the total number of bus routes that we run by about 60 routes each day, so we are excited about that because more routes means less ride time. The average route time last school year was a little over 65 minutes and this year its just at 51 minutes, so there is about a 14-15 minute difference in the average route time, which translates to students being on the bus less obviously. Last year we had 39 students who were on the bus for longer than 90 minutes and this year that number has been cut to 10. Those are close and we are still trying to work on getting that number down and ultimately the goal is to get that number to zero, but with some of our outlining areas it is just difficult to do. We wanted to share that information. We also shared information about the number of kids at the middle and high school that still arrive at the regular drop off time from the past year and those numbers vary from school to school, but the schools are working with those students as they come in, they have a designated place for them to go. They have activities, time to work on things with their Chromebook with our One to One and do homework and that kind of thing, so it has not been an issue. We just wanted to give them a little update on how we felt it was going. We are sharing the information with our Advisory Groups as well to get their feedback as we look to see if people are pleased with the change and if we need to look at adjusting anything in the future.” If you have information to share with the board about the change to staggered start times, you can leave that at your child’s school or present it directly to them at their next meeting.