Times are changing for local students, morning bell times, that is.
The Simcoe County Student Transportation Consortium has proposed new school bell times to both the Simcoe County District School Board and the Simcoe Muskoka Catholic District School Board for the 2023/24 school year, and schools in Orillia, Severn, Coldwater and Collingwood will see changes to start and end times at some of their schools.
The changes will mean an earlier start for some high school students and later start for some elementary schools.
Both Admiral Collingwood Public School and Severn Shores Public School morning bells will chime at 9:25 a.m. next term, a full 15 minutes later than it rings this year. Coldwater and Moonstone Public School classes will start at 9:30 a.m., which is 45 minutes later.
Our Lady of the Bay and Patrick Fogarty Catholic high schools will be starting at 8 a.m. and 8:20 a.m. respectively, which is earlier than the usual 9 a.m. and 8:50 a.m. starts. St. Mary's Catholic School in Collingwood will start classes at 9:10 a.m. next year – 25 minutes later than this year – Orillia's Notre Dame will start 20 minutes earlier at 8:30 a.m. and St. Bernard's Catholic School will start 20 minutes later at 9:15 a.m. beginning this September.
These shifts in the schedule will bring $715,000 in savings across the two boards, both of which are dealing with serious deficits in their transportation budgets next year. However, not everyone is pleased with the changes.
Jackie Paduano’s son Bennett will be starting Grade 1 in the fall at Admiral Collingwood. She and her husband both work full time, and sometimes struggle to get Bennett to school for 9:10 a.m. as is the current start time. With the start time changing this fall to 9:25 a.m., she says this change will make her situation more difficult.
“I have guilt of not being able to be there for my son. I’m not the only parent that feels this way,” she said. “We’re constantly feeling like we’re expected to work as though we don’t have children, and parent as though we don’t have jobs.”
“It would be nice to have more acknowledgement of this reality,” she said.
Paduano and her husband consider themselves lucky to both have flexible, hybrid work schedules. Despite that, Paduano says every minute is critical for their family in the mornings, when she walks Bennett to school and races back to her home office to start her workday.
She says she and her husband will probably be able to make the new start time work, although she has concerns for other parents who may not have work arrangements that are as flexible.
“This isn’t just about me. I’m thinking of those parents that have to be in an office or work environment by 8:30 or 9 a.m. I don’t know what they’re doing. I can’t imagine the scramble,” she said.
According to the public board report dealt with by trustees at their April 5 meeting, all the changes will eliminate the need for 8.5 full-sized buses, for $357,500 in savings at the public board. According to a Catholic board report received by trustees this week, their changes will also result in $357,500 in savings for their board.
The public school board is currently dealing with a $2 million deficit in their transportation budget from the province, while the Catholic board is dealing with a $350,000 deficit.
“Transportation has been chronically underfunded across the entire province for many years, which has resulted in school boards making difficult decisions related to the delivery of transportation services in their respective communities,” wrote the Catholic board's director of education, Frances Bagley, in a letter home to families on the changes sent on Tuesday.
“Unfortunately, this year, the shortfall is too significant and the options and flexibility for finding savings in other areas are limited. We find ourselves in the unenviable position of having to make changes to bell times in order to help address our transportation funding issues,” she said in her letter.
Both letters indicate that impacted families will receive letters over the next couple of months from the consortium, indicating their new pick-up and drop-off times.
Paduano questions why the high schools are getting earlier start times, while the elementary schools are being pushed later.
“To me, it makes more sense to move an elementary school to an earlier start time. Kids this age are typically awake by 7 a.m. They could easily start at 8 or 8:30 a.m. CCI’s (Collingwood Collegiate Institute) start time is 8 a.m. Everyone knows how difficult it is for teenagers to wake up that early,” she said.
Overall, Paduano is understanding that the school boards need to find places to cut back due to years of underfunding from the provincial government in order to make things work.
“I understand the school boards need to save money, but so do we. No one wants to feel that their job is at risk. They should make changes, but they should also provide some kind of support,” said Paduano.
