Osceola School Board Member Advocating for Flex Schedules

Osceola School Board Member Wants District to Consider Flex Schedules

BY Stephanie Bechara Osceola County

PUBLISHED 5:19 PM ET Feb. 06, 2020 PUBLISHED February 6, 2020 @5:19 PM

KISSIMMEE, Fla. — Imagine starting school at 3 p.m. Osceola County School Board Member Kelvin Soto is proposing the school district consider flex schedules.

School Board Member Kelvin Soto advocating for flex schedules
There would be a morning shift and an afternoon shift
Students would have the option to choose their own schedule
Get more Osceola County coverage

“The word flex really comes from what they do with their day,” Soto said.

Meghan Berger a mother of two in Kissimmee said she would support the concept as long as it’s optional.

“All kids learn differently, all kids have different needs outside of school, and if they have more options to work with kids then,” Berger said. “I think that’s great as long as it’s sound and financial, and the teachers are all going to be on board.”

Soto said there would be a morning shift and an afternoon shift, giving students the option to choose their schedule. He said students who decide to start later may have more time for college courses, a job, or even just get to sleep in.

“And I think that we have the facilities that can do it here, that we can do it in Osceola County,” Soto detailed. “I think that with our traffic and growth we should probably keep our minds open and consider this as something we could offer our students and teachers.”

Berger says she would love to see the district launch a pilot first, before anything is set in stone.

“I don’t think it should be at every high school either. Because of funding purposes and teacher retention rates, we don’t have enough teachers as it is,” Berger said. “And they want to spread the schedules longer? So it would just need to be something that we wouldn't be losing all of our daytime teachers, and then the nighttime teachers would still be equally as satisfied.”

Soto said he read an article from NPR about a school in Michigan that has been successful with flex schedules.

Nothing is on the table for a vote at this time but Soto said he wants to get the discussion started and is open to feedback from parents, students and teachers alike.