OSCEOLA COUNTY, Fla. — The Osceola County School District is considering bringing all schools to a standard three-tiered bell schedule. This change would stagger start and end times based on grade levels.
- Change would be for 2019-20 school year
- District believes change would decrease transportation costs
- Parents, organizers of extracurricular activities concerned
- Petition protesting change to schedule
The proposal was presented during a school board meeting on January 29. [To read the proposal, click HERE.]
The district believes the move would lower transportation costs for students. However, a number of parents have expressed opposition to changing bell times.
Greg and Tania Filak, who have two children in Osceola schools, are among those concerned about the proposal. They live two miles within Celebration K-8, so buses are not an option for them.
"I have to wait for two start times, and how do we do work?” Tania said.
How it would work
With the new rule start times across the board would go as follows:
- 7:20 a.m. – 7:30 a.m. High School
- 8:20 a.m. – 8:30 a.m. Elementary
- 9:10 a.m. – 9:20 a.m. Middle/Multi-level
Amy Wood, a mother of four, started a petition online against the idea. It already has nearly 600 signatures.
“People need to express themselves and share their concerns with the district,” Wood said.
But parents aren’t the only parties upset about the proposed change. Organizers of extracurricular activities for students are worried, too.
Effect on Extracurricular Activities?
“We don’t have lights on our fields, so right now we are even struggling for practice because we lose light at 6:15 p.m.,” said Kyle Wilson, director of Celebration Youth Soccer & Celebration Tropics.
“It does affect the kids that are playing, because they will only be able to be in one activity,” said Victoria Hardison-Sterry, president of Celebration Little League.
“The ripple effects will keep going much further than maybe people think,” said Darren Holt, Director of Advantage Tennis.
But the school district said with fewer buses running daily, savings will kick in — about $2 million worth of savings. Those are funds superintendent Dr. Debra Pace said can be used for teacher salaries.
“I am asking for a little bit of trust in that we will do everything we can in the school district to make it work, if this is the direction the school board goes,” Pace said.
The Filaks, however, still hope the school board listens to their thoughts.
“Money is not the end goal," Tania explained. "You really have to consider the family values. You have to consider the children."
School board members will vote on the three-tiered bell schedule recommendation at their February 19 meeting.