TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) – For Kenny Allen, life has never been as sweet as it is now. His two children, Ashton and Morgan, light up his world. He and wife love raising their children and seeing them happy.
What they don’t like seeing – Hillsborough School leaders changing the lives of both children and parents through sweeping schedule changes.
Classes could soon start and end at different times in Hillsborough County.
“I would say there’s a lot of parents upset about this. My wife is one of them,” he told News Channel 8.
The father-of-two is among Florida many frustrated parents throughout the county. Right now, school leaders are mulling over the idea of schedule changes that would affect everyone in the district, from high school to elementary school.
While parents call it a problem, Hillsborough County calls it a solution to a big issue involving buses. The district claims that bus drivers will have more time to get children to school on-time if school schedules are staggered.
Right now, bus drivers in Hillsborough have a mere 27 minutes to get students safely between high school and elementary school campuses in high volume Tampa Bay area traffic.
Turns out, that time frame is far less than other Bay Area counties, such as Pasco and Polk. School spokesperson, Tanya Arja, told News Channel 8, “If you look statewide, if you look around in this local area, schools have 55-80 for start times, because they know that’s the optimal time to have.”
In fact, Superintendent Jeff Eakins recently addressed parents in a video and explained how Florida many students are running late to class due to the late arrival of school buses. He said there’s not enough time to pick up and drop off students, and that means a loss of valuable instruction time in the classroom.
When Superintendent Eakins reached out to moms and dads across the county, asking them to fire off some feedback, parents sent thousands of emails with the majority of the reaction being anger, frustration and anxiety.
One mom wrote, “I think this is a huge mistake.” Another parent said, “Why can’t we leave our bell schedule alone?”
The district will take a final vote on the matter on April 25. Meanwhile, the superintendent continues to ask for suggestions from parents. Those emails can be sent to: bellschedule@sdhc.k12.fl.us
A mother who is raising her two little girls while working at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Tampa tells us she has no idea how she’s going to get her children to school on time while working full time.
“It’s going to affect everybody,” she said. “If they do this, it will cause a domino effect.”
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