EBR Schools Proposed Schedule Changes - Parochial Schools to start at 7:15am!

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BATON ROUGE - The East Baton Rouge Parish Public School System unveiled its proposed staggered start times for all schools in the district. With start times at 7 a.m., 8 a.m., and 9 a.m., not all students of the same age groups would be starting at the same time.

The schedule has all high schools starting first at 7 a.m., along with parochial and secondary charters. The proposal says this was to allow high schoolers to take care of their siblings after school. This group will be dismissed at 2:15 p.m.

The second tier is from 8 a.m. to 3:15 p.m. and includes most middle schools, some elementary schools, and elementary charters. The final tier is almost exclusively elementary students along with community partners like YMCA and BREC. Their hours are 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. According to the proposal, some students moving to "Tier 1" schools could be on bus routes that start as early as 5:15 a.m. Documents filed in advance of Thursday's special meeting claimed that the new schedule would cover routes that are currently missed and would curtail late-running buses.

It acknowledges "challenges" including conflicts for bus drivers who hold other jobs and increased time on the road for drivers.

If approved, the recommendation is to implement the changes on Sept. 11. Families would be notified directly about the modified schedule the week of Aug. 28.

WBRZ has a crew at Thursday night's special school board meeting where the schedule is going to be presented.

The staggered schedule is the result of the district trying to manage its disgruntled bus drivers who, late last week, forced the cancellation of classes with a planned sickout over pay disparities.

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