Staggered school arrival/dismissal times could save the district dollars on buses and bus drivers, provide more access to busing, and preserve instructional minutes.

Staggered school arrival/dismissal times could save the district dollars on buses and bus drivers, provide more access to busing,....Photo bycanva

-Written by an Educator in the Community

Berkeley Heights Public Schools (BHPS) administrators and Board members should consider the following for the 2025-26 school year.

Listed below at the current BHPSNJ school start times and dismissal times:

BHPSNJ school start times and dismissal times:Photo bynj21st

The current schedule at most provides no more than a 20-minute interval between each level of school and is even more concise at dismissal (with all four levels of schools being dismissed within a 25-minute timespan).

To reduce $1.3 million in budget in the area of busing, the Bernards Township Board of Education approved staggered school start times for their 2024-25 school year. Bernards’ three layers of schools (one high school, one middle school, and four elementary schools) are separated by 50 minutes and 58 minutes for middle school to high school arrival and dismissal, respectively, and 40 minutes and 32 minutes for high school to elementary school arrival and dismissal, respectively.

The length of the school day in Bernards is shortened by five minutes at their middle school and 12 minutes at their high school. The below BHPS provided scenarios avoid any cut to instructional minutes (other than delayed opening/early dismissal tweaks) and actually adds instructional minutes in some scenarios:

Possibility 1: Double-tier bussing: One bus driver would drive two routes per shift

Double-tier bussing: One bus driver would drive two routes per shiftPhoto bynj21st

In this scenario, a GL/CMS bus driver would run their second route for elementary students.

For proximity, the GLHS buses would later transport Hughes/Woodruff students (separated by school) and the CMS buses would later transport MKM/Mountain Park students (separated by school). For example, if there are six GLHS bus drivers, three drivers would later drive Hughes students and three drivers would later drive Woodruff students. The same would apply for CMS bus drivers splitting up MKM and Mountain Park students based on demand.

Possibility 2: Triple-tier bussing: One bus driver would drive three routes per shift

Triple-tier bussing: One bus driver would drive three routes per shiftPhoto bynj21st

In this scenario, the secondary school bus drivers (GLHS and CMS) would later divide equally between the MKM/Mountain Park and Hughes/Woodruff side of town, based on demand.

Possibility 2 is the most ideal scenario in that the same bus and bus driver can be utilized three times.

One other detail: Berkeley Heights is a smaller town geographically than Bernards (Basking Ridge) and therefore not as much travel time is needed between schools (particularly from Columbia Middle School to our four elementary schools in Scenario 2).

In addition to the administration working with the Board of Education, the Berkeley Heights Education Association (BHEA) would have to agree to these changes based on the difference in school start and end times.

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