Bedford BOE Decides Against Flipping School Start Times

Bedford school board members have opted, for now, not to look at flipping the start times for Fox Lane High School and Middle School with those of the district's elementary schools.

While members expressed personal interest in the idea, the cost of reconciling the change with activites out of the district makes it too expensive. The main reason is because, in three scenarios looked at, more buses would need to be added in order for the district to make good on a state mandate to provide transportation for students who attend various schools outside of the district.

Currently, 10 middle school and high school buses serve to transfer students to their non-district placements at various private schools in Westchester and Fairfield Counties, after being used to drop students off at the Fox Lane campus. In addition, the district also provides busing for students who attend Rippowam Cisqua (14 buses) and St. Patrick's Parochial School (6), both located in Bedford.

Each possibility, presented at this week's meeting by Transportation Supervisor Tom Turner, ranged from expensive to very expensive.

The first scenario would involve bringing kids to the elementary schools at 8:15 a.m. with the high school and middle school by 9:15. This would require purchasing 14 buses to make up for loss of transfer routes. Instead, buses would pick the the out-of-district private school kids up directly. The totoal cost would range close to $1 million.

Under the second scenario, which involves an 8:15 a.m. time for elementary schools and a 9 a.m. time for the Fox Lane campus, the cost balloons to $4 million because 40 buses would need to be added. This would have to be done to help private school kids and to compensate for logistical problems between the district's schools that would be caused by a narrower time window.

The third scenario, which would start a 7:40 a.m. time for elementary schools and 9 a.m. time at the Fox Lane campus, would essentially flip the current times. However, it would involve about 12 new buses being purchased, with a cost also at more than $1 million.

Also, the three scenarios would need spending of more than $200,000 to expand the fleet in order to accomodate high school students who go to the BOCES tech and vocational program during the day.

Board member Graham Anderson noted that the switch is too costly, unless all districts in the area were to make the switch.

Fellow board member Jennifer Gerken, said it is “disappointing that this is where we get stuck in the conversation," noting that the start times issue deals with children's wellbeing.

The start times flip was one of several proposals that got a look for possible inclusion in the district's Consolidated Plan, which will include curriculum and capital changes. Board members agreed that while switching the times isn't feasible now because of cost, it is a topic that they hope gets attention in the future.

More Inquiries Into Changing High School Schedule Ahead

In an update, Superintendent Jere Hochman told the board that studying a possible change to the Fox Lane High School schedule will continue. This will include reconvening a committee that met last year and had involvement from Principal Joel Adelberg, which will do more research and visit schools with other types of schedules.

The goal is to have a new schedule in place for the 2013-14 school year, according to Hochman. At this point, there are no specific plans for what form the schedule would take. Currently, it runs for nine, 40-minute periods.

Plans for a new high school schedule are also part of the Consolidated Plan.

Updates on Planned Curriculum Changes

Another priority under the Consolidated Plan is to offer new programs within the district curriculum, particularly online support.

Drew Patrick, assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction, briefed the board on Bedford Central being in northern Westchester participating in a joint online high school course offering series. The others include Chappaqua, Katonah-Lewisboro, Yorktown, Ossining and Lakeland.

Other online initiatives include rolling out an online system called Study Island, which will be used to review and monitor student learning, and provide tools such as preparation for the SAT, ACT and AP exams.

According to Patrick, the district is also considering an early involvement program called Achievement Via Individual Determination (AVID), a process to target kids as young as elementary school age and foster behavior and skills for sucessful students.

The district is also starting to roll out a program called Project Lead the Way, which is geared towards engineering prep and places an emphasis on inquiry and projects. Currently, some high school freshman are enrolled in the program.