THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, November 4, 1996 TAG: 9611040039
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ALETA PAYNE, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: 51 lines
Cindy Ritch has been eating lunch at her desk and staying late at work more than usual this fall.
Ritch likes to see her second-grade daughter onto the bus for Woodstock Elementary School, and because elementary starting times were moved 15 minutes later this year, that has meant Ritch is late for her job at H.D. Oliver Funeral Apartments.
She considers herself lucky, because her employer allows some flexibility in her schedule, but she says the change has complicated her life ``very much.''
``Most of the parents I talked with don't like the idea,'' Ritch said.
Ritch is among those parents who say the changes have created problems with child care and work plans and need to be reconsidered. The elementary start time, which has drawn the most criticism, was shifted from 9 a.m. to 9:15 a.m. Elementary ending times were also moved 15 minutes later, and middle school hours were changed as well.
At Tuesday's School Board meeting, school administrators will explain their plan for evaluating the changes and provide a time line for making a recommendation to the board about nextyear's daily schedule. The board is not scheduled to vote on the matter Tuesday.
Superintendent Timothy R. Jenney said he has no plans for any additional changes before next year.
``It's going to take us awhile to complete the evaluation,'' he said.
The board, made up largely of members who have since left office, approved the time changes as part of the overall budget package in May, but never considered the matter separately. At the time, the district was desperate to save money.
Board member Donald Bennis said he has been contacted by a number of parents and has also talked to seven of the city's elementary school principals about the new times.
Bennis said the principals indicated that they would prefer an earlier start time. He also said, however, that there are several factors to be considered in how to proceed, including transportation, teachers' contracts and the impact on afternoon events.
He said he is anxious to hear from the administration on parents' opinions, the impact of shifting times on transportation and any information staffers can collect on the time of day children of different ages learn best.
``It may be too late in the year to change it, but certainly I want to address the issue for the fall,'' Bennis said.
Jenney said it's always ``difficult to make the choices when economics are involved.'' One area the evaluation will address is whether the time changes were the most efficient way to save the division money, he said.
KEYWORDS: VIRGINIA BEACH SCHOOLS STARTING TIME by CNB