Pickerington Schools may someday change its bell schedules, but it will not be next fall.

April 1, 2024
By Rachel Scofield

At the March 11 school board meeting, the Pickerington Education Association (PEA) presented a proposal altering the start and end times for all schools in the district. With the biggest shift being at the middle school level where the day would begin at 7:35 am instead of 8:40 am.

The PEA is the union which represents the teachers and guidance counselors of the district. PEA President Brad Harris said that the schedule change was the district’s proposal to address union concerns.

“For the 3 years I have been PEA president, we have brought concerns to the district and board multiple times about length of the elementary student day and how PLSD has the latest end time for elementary in central Ohio,” Harris said. “PEA advocated for an earlier end time for elementary and this bell time proposal is what the district offered as a way to accomplish that last March in negotiations.”

In February, the district solicited feedback about the proposed changes from parents, staff and other community members. An advisory committee comprised of district staff, principals, and teachers sifted through the 1,022 responses looking for trends and patterns.

The responses varied with strong support from elementary parents and a mixed response from the families of older students. The committee decided to move forward with presenting the new schedule to the school board. However, most of the school board members were not receptive to the proposal.

“I’m not a big fan nor making eleventhhour decision for the ‘24-25 school year,” said school board member Cathy Olshefski.

She further stated that if the district leaders collectively agreed that the schedule needed improving, then an in-depth study would be required.

“If we think this is important to our students and our staff and our community, then we need to take some more time. The ripple effects will be huge,” Olshefski said.

The PEA first broached the district regarding changing start times in March 2023 as part of the collective bargaining agreement. The union promised its members that it would work with the administration to adjust the existing schedule to align with recommendations from organizations such as American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP).

“During negotiations, two board members were present the entire time and had executive sessions to brief the rest of the board,” Harris said. “They were aware of the proposal last March.”

For the union, the most pressing concern is for the elementary students, who perform best earlier in the day.

“I had two kids sleep from 12:30 to about 3:00 today,” said Amy Burton, a second-grade teacher at Fairfield Elementary. “There’s a lot of things that we have to do with them all day long and it is virtually impossible to (hold their attention through when) the last kid leaves my room at 4:15.”

Concerns regarding the current bussing system

Harris said that the bus system also impacts elementary students.

Each day, the junior highs are bussed first followed by the high schools, followed by the middle schools and ending with the elementaries. The junior highs start their day at 7:15 am and the elementaries end at 4:05 pm.

“Essentially if you are running four routes, somebody’s going to start early and someone will end late,” Harris said. “The way things currently are, we have serious concerns about the late time that the elementaries are getting out. I know we run a pretty efficient bus route but if there are any delays, or you have to pull buses for extracurriculars, that impacts the elementaries. There are elementaries that have to stay after 15, 20, 30 minutes at times (with the students) not getting home until after 5:00.”

Hensen said agreed with Harris.

“We are in March 2024, the school year is almost over – the fact that hundreds of kids are sitting in the hallway at 4:30 is, in the Marine Corp we would say “unsat”, that means ‘unsatisfactory’,” Hensen said.

Hensen said that multiple people who have moved into the district have reported that compared to their previous districts, Pickerington bussing has problems.

“In those 1,022 comments, there were hundreds of bussing complaints and I’ve observed it myself in my visits to the schools,” Hensen said.  “That’s the bottom line – there are problems.”

Harris said that another possibility is for the district to move from a four-tiered bussing system to a three-tiered system but he admitted that would be outside of the union’s realm of influence.

He told the board that given the current bussing system, the PEA’s proposed schedule is the only means to streamline efficiency while also ensuing the high school and elementary follow the scientific recommendations for healthy schedules.

Rob Weinheimer, the district’s business manager, said that the current four-tiered system has earned the district a top rank in the state for bussing efficiency.

He said that a three-tiered system would drastically reduce efficiency. Additional routes would cost $76,000 each per year plus driver recruiting and training expenses. The buses cost $120,000 each.

Weinheimer estimated that a tier change would require eight-to-12-months to implement and would cost the district an additional $3.2 million dollars a year bringing the total transportation budget to $6.8 million per year.

Pickerington Schools Treasurer John Walsh told the board that given those parameters, “we would be looking at 2026 when we run out of cash.”

Hensen argued that efficiency should not be the district’s top priority.

“If we are 95% on time then that 5% is hundreds of kids sitting in hallways at the end of the day,” Hensen said. “Or it’s hundreds of kids who are late in the morning and instruction gets delayed. We have to be careful about throwing around some of these numbers. Efficiency is important but it takes a second tier to effectiveness. Effectiveness is what is most important whether it is bussing or anything else.”

Middle Schoolers would walk in the dark.

Under the proposed schedule change, the middle school students would be leaving for school before sunrise during the winter months.

Board member J.D. Postage asked if it would be possible for the district to add more bus stops so that the fifth and sixth graders would not have to walk as far in the dark.

“Additional stops eat away at efficiency and with runs as low as 28 minutes, that’s going to be a tough ask,” Weinheimer said. “We would have to add resources.”

Postage said that he appreciated the union’s efforts “but I am wrapping my head around student safety as well. There are areas of the school district that don’t have sidewalks, I’m concerned about these students out in the dark and trying to walk considerable distance. We are about to make a decision that impacts a lot of lives – not only the teachers but our families and our community.”

Superintendent Dr. Chris Briggs suggested that the district recruit parent volunteers to walk students to bus stops. He proposed that a program could be modeled after Parents on Positivity Patrol in which volunteers help manage the hallways and cafeterias in the high schools and junior highs.

“Obviously if my kids were that age, I would stand with them,” Briggs said. “I wouldn’t allow them to stand alone in the dark and wait on a bus, but there is give and take on both sides. We realize the impact it does have on our community. We heard loud and clear during negotiations that (adjusting the school schedules) was a top priority and that is why we listened and that is why the proposal is being shared tonight.”

Postage questioned the suggestion of parent volunteers at bus stops, “I think it is a great concept but in reality is that going to happen?”

Middle school students might not get enough sleep.

Postage also worried that middle school students might have evening practices then would have to wake early the next day.

“You try to get them to have an extra-curricular activity in the evening, but you need for them to go to bed at 7:30 or 8:00 in order to get them up at a reasonable time to function during the day – it is unreasonable,” Postage said.

After-school child care could be problematic.

Board member Vanessa Niekamp said that while she agreed with Postage’s concerns about middle school students walking in the dark, she also worried about the children being dismissed at 2:35 pm.

“I am not supportive of having nine-year-old out of school that early in the afternoon,” Niekamp said. “I know not every high school student comes home and watches a younger sibling or even a neighbor, but I know a lot of our families rely on hiring a teenager from down the street for kids who aren’t able to go to a Goddard or a Primrose or whatever.”

Niekamp said that the district does not know if the YMCA can extend afterschool programming (Y Club) to the middle schools and that the district should not flood the community with unsupervised nine-year olds.

“I won’t be supportive until we do something to make sure those students are safe,” Niekamp said.

Olshefski said that while the current system has issues, she believes the district should look into other means of helping the elementary schools before enacting changes that would ripple through the other grade levels.

“I think the law allows us to educate primary grades at a fewer number of hours per year than secondary grades,” Olshefski said.  “I’m assuming we didn’t look at that. There are probably a number of different nuances to the teaching and learning process that are occurring in our great school district that we didn’t look at. At the end of the day, It is March 11 and we essentially have 2.5 months of school and fall will be here before we know it. I’m not interested in making these changes for fall.”

As the proposed schedule change was considered for “discussion only”, the issue will not be moving forward.

Administration launches Time Study Task Force

After the board meeting, Briggs emailed the entire staff about the creation of a new Time Study Task Force to evaluate the start/end times for the various buildings. The letter, which can also be found on the district’s website stated the following:

PLSD Family,

When difficult topics surface, it reminds me why I wanted to be superintendent of this great school district. I came here seven years ago because of the people and working with such amazing individuals reinforces my decision. PLSD has dedicated, relentless, passionate teachers, support staff, and administrators that get up every day to support our students and their families. This work is hard, exhausting, frustrating, and rewarding. There is not another profession that changes lives like educators!

The start and end times of our schools is one of those difficult topics. The decision to change times impacts every employee and family in our district. We all; PEA, administration, and Board of Education must work collaboratively and involve all stakeholders in this process. To help facilitate this discussion, we will be creating a Time Study Task Force to solicit feedback, data, and create a plan that has our students’ best interests in mind. We will conduct listening tours throughout the district to draft a well thought out, comprehensive plan that will be recommended to the Board of Education in the future for approval. This process will take time and patience knowing we are all in this together for our entire Learning Community. 

There is no single decision that will please everyone equally, but I am confident our plan will reflect what is best for all our students. 

Respectfully,

Chris

Harris said, “PEA leadership supports re-evaluating all of the times for all building levels and making a decision that has the support of the community, the staff, and serves the best interest of our students, even if that involves additional cost.”