PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — The School District of Philadelphia is considering a new bell schedule that would centralize start times to 7:30, 8:15 or 9 a.m.
Currently, schools set their own schedules. The proposal to consolidate start times was largely prompted by a shortage of bus drivers, according to Superintendent William Hite.
“You can’t run an efficient system with 20 different arrival and dismissal times,” he said.
Streamlining the schedule would also allow buses to complete three separate runs with more time in between for cleaning.
Under this proposal, most high schools would start at 7:30 a.m. Research has shown better performance among high schoolers who start later in the day, and Hite said that was the district’s initial goal.
“That has probably evolved to like, all schools being grouped geographically, maybe, into a schedule,” he said. “Our original goal was to have high schoolers on the later schedule because we actually wanted them in later. The schedules may have evolved because we’ve been getting feedback constantly throughout the year on these.
“Naturally I’d want to see high schoolers come in later,” he continued. “But schools have a great deal of flexibility here, and their opportunity to provide feedback will certainly direct our approach.”
Schools that have been open for in-person instruction this year are already operating on the three-tiered schedule.
Most of the city’s 200,000 students walk or take SEPTA to school. The district provides yellow bus service for about 40,000 district, charter and parochial students.