Discovery and Liberty school times to change Oct. 14

MADISON – The Madison City School Board approved a change Tuesday in start and dismissal times for middle school students. MCS superintendent Robby Parker said the change is necessary to help buses get students to school on time.

“This change is driven by our transportation department needing a little more time on elementary routes to avoid tardiness on their middle school routes,” Parker said. “Our staggered school starts enable drivers to run their elementary route, then their secondary routes. Bus drivers are experiencing increasing delays due to heavy traffic. A domino effect of lateness occurs when earlier routes get pushed behind.”

The change, which will take effect Oct. 14, sets the middle schools start time forward 10 minutes to 8:15 a.m. Middle school dismissal times will change to 3:20 p.m. The changes affect only Discovery and Liberty middle schools,Parker said.

“Elementary and high school bell times remain the same. This should help reduce some of the late arriving buses at the middle schools that encounter delays on their elementary runs.”

Parker said the later start time should not affect the current morning bus schedule but will allow for on-time arrival at the middle schools.

“We heard your concerns and felt your frustrations and are trying everything we can to address them,” he said. “We’ve added new routes and hired additional drivers using a new pay scale. We will soon roll out a GPS bus locator service to enhance our route planning and enable you to track your child’s bus.”

Once the new schedule is in place, if it is determined adjustments are needed to some pickup times, the transportation department will notify the school of those changes and parents, in turn, will be notified via messenger.