THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, November 11, 1996 TAG: 9611090010
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A10 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: 39 lines
A 15-minute delay in public-school daily openings this year may not seem like a major issue, but for working parents it is a most inconvenient change.
Beginning in September, the starting times of most Virginia Beach middle and elementary schools were moved ahead 15 minutes. Elementary school doors swing open now at 9:15 instead of 9, and middle school students are due in class at 8:25 instead of 8:10.
School officials say the change was needed to give school-bus drivers more time to deliver high-school students, then middle schoolers and finally elementary schoolchildren to their destinations safely.
That sounds reasonable. But this is the second time the same school system has moved school opening times by 15 minutes. Just two years ago, times were moved up 15 minutes.
This repeated tinkering with school openings is disruptive for many working parents who operate on very tight schedules. The delay causes headaches as they struggle to deliver their children to school or see that they are safely on school buses before leaving for work.
Working parents already have to cope with missed work when their children are sick or when school holidays leave them struggling to find good day care. Working parents also have to squeeze time for homework in the short evening hours following an exhausting day.
One thing parents should not have to worry about is being late to their jobs because of school starting times.
Virginia Beach school administrators must solve this annoying problem without sacrificing the safety of children and should give special weight to the needs of working parents who must arrive in the workplace as early as possible.
If the elementary starting time must remain at 9:15, schools should strive to offer some sort of safe, inexpensive and on-premises before-school care for the children of parents who simply must get to their jobs in the morning. by CNB