By Diana Whittle
When the 2014-15 school year begins on Aug.
4, students at nine schools in the Kyrene
district will have a new start and ending
time in a change to keep all schools on the same
schedule.
The start time at all middle schools now will be
8:30 a.m., with an ending time of 3:30 p.m.
The six middle schools moving to this schedule
include Kyrene Akimel A-al, Kyrene del Pueblo,
Kyrene Middle School, Kyrene Centennial, Kyrene
Aprende and Kyrene Altadeña.
The start time at all elementary schools now will
be 7:45 a.m. with an ending time of 2:35 p.m.
The three elementary schools changing to
this schedule include Kyrene Monte Vista, Kyrene
Traditional Academy and Kyrene de las Manitas.
This will bring them in line with Kyrene’s other
16 elementary schools.
After an extensive discussion by the Kyrene
District Governing Board, it was agreed that
modifying the start time was beneficial to most
families.
“The district also conducted a series of public
outreach meetings to gauge families’ reaction to
the change,” said Nancy Dudenhoefer, assistant
community relations director for the Kyrene district.
“We also distributed information to 64,000
households who subscribe to our List-Serve via email
to inform them of the change.”
At the outreach meetings, those that disagreed
with the time change had a chance to voice their
concerns and to seek solutions by speaking with
school administrators. In addition, parents who were
not able to attend any meeting could email district
staff.
The time change impacts more than re-setting
the clocks—it also includes modifying transportation
plans, and that will involve a fiscal impact of an
estimated $600,000 to the budget, said Jeremy
Calles, chief financial officer for the Kyrene district.
Photo by Billy Hardiman
