The Olathe School District’s is moving ahead with changing daily start and end times across elementary, middle, and high schools, largely in response to a persistent shortage of bus drivers.
The school board on Thursday voted to approve a new schedule that will take effect next school year.
The changes will shift high school instructional days forward by 20 minutes without losing any instructional time.
Beginning in fall 2024, the high school day in Olathe will begin at 7:40 a.m. and go until 2:40 p.m.
Meanwhile, middle and elementary schedules will start and end later, with both losing about 20 minutes of instructional time each day.
Elementary schools will start at 8:55 a.m. under the new schedule and end at 3:55 p.m.
Middle schools will start at 8:20 a.m. and end at 3:20 p.m.
The change is prompted by bus driver shortage
Jim McMullen, the distirct’s Deputy Superintendent of Organizational Operations, outlined in a presentation that with 182 bus routes required this year and only 155 drivers, there has been a deficit of 27 drivers.
The driver deficit has, at times, caused students to arrive late and be dismissed early. Other students have had to be put on waitlists for the bus program.
McMullen estimates Olathe Public Schools will need less than 150 drivers with the new schedule. Having sufficient drivers will also allow all students currently on bus waitlists to be included on routes.
Concerns about new schedule raised
Some board members and members of the public expressed concerns about how the schedule change will affect before and after school care, bell schedules, late starts and staff contract hours.
McMullen and Superintendent Brent Yeager both expressed that many of those details still need to be decided upon.
“[The policy approval] gives us the opportunity to move out of this theoretical space to the space of let’s start making concrete plans to move forward,” OPS Superintendent Brent Yeager said.
McMullen said the district’s bargaining unit will work to decide and finalize any changes to staff contract hours.
The changes will go into effect for the 2024-25 school year.
