The Paradise Valley Unified School District presented a first reading of a proposed bell-time realignment designed to reduce chronic late bus arrivals and address a multi-year driver shortage. The committee—working with third-party analyst Transpar—recommended consolidating middle schools into a single tier, increasing AM/PM buffers to about 50 minutes, moving some elementary schools to later start times (including a proposed 9:00 a.m. start for a set of tier‑3 elementaries), and adding 10 minutes to the elementary school instructional day.

Mrs. Berrigan and Superintendent Dr. Corson described operational strain from driver vacancies (staffing as low as roughly 37% of posted CDL driver positions at times) and noted the district’s aim to optimize routes without substantially increasing ongoing staffing costs. Committee members and focus groups—including teachers, principals, parents and transportation staff—were cited as having participated in the multi‑meeting process.

Supporters said the changes would improve route efficiency, reduce late arrivals and afternoon supervision burdens, and create conservative annual savings the district estimated at a minimum of about $387,000 for private transportation costs and roughly $120,000 in after‑school supervision savings. Transportation staff told the board they preferred three tiers to a four‑tier system and welcomed additional buffer time between tiers.

Board members pressed staff on consequences for high school students (concerns about earlier high‑school start times and potential impacts on extracurriculars and student sleep patterns), the need to protect special-education scheduling and therapies, communication timelines for families, and whether boundary or broader-system changes should be considered simultaneously. Staff said they will run additional family surveys and return with a recommendation at the Feb. 12 meeting.

The board did not take a final vote at the first reading; staff said they will collect more community feedback and bring a formal recommendation back for action in February.