No change in school days for 2015-16

    There will be no changes to the starting and ending times at Avoyelles Parish public schools -- at least not for the coming school year.

Transportation Supervisor Brent Whiddon told the board’s Bus Committee that he reviewed the effects of starting school 30 minutes later -- which some board members had proposed to prevent young children from standing on the side of the road in the morning dark.

   Whiddon said a major obstacle was the effect it would have on the dual-enrollment program with LSUA. Buses with students going to LSUA must leave Avoyelles High at 7 a.m. Buses leaving from Bunkie and Marksville high schools must leave prior to 7:30 a.m.

 

   The program, which allows juniors and seniors to attend college courses at LSUA while also gaining high school credit for those courses, is one of the school district’s most acclaimed programs. It has been touted as a model for all other school districts. It is also a way to ensure that the district’s best students don’t take advantage of block schedules that allow them to finish their required courses for graduation early. 

   The Avoyelles Early College Academy provides an incentive for those students to remain in the public school because they can obtain their first several college courses free of charge while still being able to participate in band, cheerleading, choir, drama, sports and school clubs. 

   Superintendent Blaine Dauzat told board members that he initially favored a later start date, but upon further review agrees with Whiddon that the effect on the ECA program makes it difficult. 

    He said the only way he sees around the problem would be to create special bus routes just for students in that program -- and that would not be financially feasible.

 

   Dauzat said while the LSUA program is a key reason, it is not the only one. He said he received feedback from principals and others and it was “mostly negative.”

    Potential problems were pointed out by both elementary and high school administrators.

   He said the reason the school day was set earlier some years ago was to avoid losing instructional time in the high schools due to after school activities. Setting the starting times for schools 30 minutes later would create the “lost time” issue again.

   Whiddon said he looked at the possibility of starting elementary schools 30 minutes later -- to address the safety concerns -- and to leave high school start times alone. 

   However, he said, that would require the school district to almost double the number of bus routes -- elementary only and high school only.

    Dauzat said that high schoolers -- especially seniors -- are less consistent in riding the buses. They may catch a ride with a friend or older sibling on some days. If they have a driver’s license, they may have access to a car and drive themselves to school.

     “You can have eight high school students on the bus one day and 24 the next,” he said.

 

    In another bus-related issue, Whiddon said it appears changes to a state law will be enacted that will remove potentially expensive requirements for picking up and dropping off students by school buses.

     He said a law adopted last year included language that prohibited children from crossing a lane of traffic to get on the bus. If that were enforced, bus drivers would have to drive down the left side of the street, turn around and drive down the right side of the street to pick up children riding that bus.

     The intent of the law -- and the way it has been amended to read -- affects pick-up and drop-off on four-lane highways.

    “We only have one four-lane highway in Avoyelles, La. Hwy 1, and it is in Marksville,” Whiddon said. “To my knowledge, we do not pick up any children on that 4-lane.”