Rochester School Board decides against changes to student start times

Rochester Public Schools’ teenagers will still need to be in class at 7:40 a.m. sharp next school year, after the RPS School Board unanimously moved to postpone discussion on the matter — with the intent of re-examining the situation next year.

Board members had been presented with two schedule options created by the Bell Committee, which heard feedback on several proposals at a study session last week. Both proposals would move high school start times to 8:20 a.m. and elementary school start times to 9:35 a.m.

The main difference between the two options dealt with the middle schools. Option A would have moved middle schoolers’ opening bell back, but only to 8:05 a.m. Option B would have kept middle and high schoolers in sync at 8:20, which would keep transportation costs from rising — at the expense of total “instructional minutes,” which would decrease by 15 minutes per day. (Over a 180-day school year, this would amount to 45 fewer hours of instructional time.)

School Board Member Jean Marvin was one of many members wary of the proposed changes to the high school schedule, which would eliminate one class period from the school day and turn fourth period into a three-tiered, staggered lunch system, with total lunch time decreasing from 50 to 35 minutes.

“That fourth hour is miserable, the way it looks right now,” said Marvin. “It’s absolutely miserable.”

Proposed high school schedule

RPS Superintendent Michael Muñoz echoed the sentiment, with an emphasis on the timeline needed to implement the changes for next school year. If the changes were to go into effect for next year, they would most likely would have to be approved by the end of February. 

“If we change the the schedule, the amount of courses offered in a day, then that throws a wrench in staffing and students signing up for courses at the high school level,” said Muñoz. “My recommendation would be, if you want us to get more feedback on these two options, I’d say we could do that but I wouldn’t want to implement it next year.”

At this point, the proposal goes on the back burner for the next few months. The board was willing to continue discussion at a later time, but as of now there is no set date for the proposals to come back to the board.

Isaac Jahns is a Rochester native and a 2019 graduate of the Missouri School of Journalism. He reports on politics, business and music for Med City Beat.