Parents, students press Horseheads board to revisit new start times as BOCES and transportation conflicts surface

Parents and students urged the Horseheads Central School District Board of Education on Sept. 18 to reopen and review the district’s new bell schedule after families reported repeated schedule conflicts with BOCES (Board of Cooperative Educational Services) programs, missed instructional time and safety concerns.

At a public-comment period dominated by concerns about start times, Kathleen Gary said she presented the board with a petition of more than 400 signatures asking the district to form a committee to investigate later start times. “We do not feel that the current start times are in the best interest for our children’s well-being from an academic, home, or safety perspective,” Gary said.

Several parents described concrete problems. Megan Blitz said her daughter, a new driver and a senior, is enrolled in a BOCES New Visions program that starts shortly after an 8:55 a.m. class on the home campus ends; Google Maps shows a 12-minute drive in clear conditions. Blitz said the schedule has caused her daughter to miss about 20 minutes of instruction on some days and left school staff’s verbal plans for leaving inconsistent. “I have been assured a district administrator would contact both these administrators… and somebody would touch base with her,” Blitz said. As of the meeting, Blitz said she and her daughter had received no follow-up.

Superintendent Dr. Douglas described why the district changed bell times and outlined transportation constraints the board and administration weighed. He said the district reworked runs so two bus runs could serve elementary and secondary routes, noting that historically the district ran three bus rounds but the current budget and fleet do not allow that. He explained that changing one building’s start time requires shifting others because of bus routing and contractual day-length requirements for different employee groups. The superintendent detailed short-term traffic and pickup congestion at several schools and said administrators are continuing to tweak routes and pickup/drop-off points. He told the board the district is tracking bus run times with the goal of keeping individual rides “roughly about an hour or less.”

Board members debated whether to form an ad hoc committee to study start times. Some members and community speakers pushed for an immediate committee and faster action; others called for more operational data before creating a committee. Board President Christmas said the board plans an October agenda item to review start-time impacts and data; several trustees said that discussion would inform whether a formal committee is needed and how it should be structured.

Board members and administrators also raised concerns specific to students in career-technical education. Multiple speakers said that CTE and New Visions students are losing instructional time because of misaligned schedules; one presenter said some students must wait on buses for long periods between sessions. Board members acknowledged BOCES sets its own schedules and that aligning multiple districts’ timetables is complex.

The meeting record includes extensive back-and-forth on next steps. Several trustees asked the administration to prepare ridership, run-time and extracurricular-impact data for the October meeting so the board could consider whether to form a study committee and what charge it would carry.

The board did not make a change to start times at the meeting. Trustees said they would continue to monitor routes and building-level traffic patterns as short-term fixes are implemented and bring a fuller report to the October meeting.

Ending: Parents and staff who addressed the board said they want a faster response; trustees said they will review operational data and discuss the scope of any formal review at the next regular meeting.