Administrators have worked out new times for classes to start and end at 15 buildings in the Greater Albany Public Schools.

The changes will take effect when school resumes after the summer on Sept. 8.

Bus transportation is the reason for the change, said Jim Haggart, the executive assistant to the superintendent.

According to Chris Ellison, the director of transportation, the bus schedules are already being rearranged to fit the new start and end times.

Currently South Albany High School and Calapooia Middle School have a late start program, and Clover Ridge, Liberty, Oak and Tangent elementary schools have early release programs. Timber Ridge is also planning to have an early release time. These programs allow teachers and staff to discuss student progress or what instructional techniques might work best for a child. The typical duration of the late start has been 90 minutes, but that could be changed to two hours.

"As you can imagine, once students arrive at school there is no opportunity for all teachers and staff to meet together," Haggart said.

Because some of the schools had a late start, the buses did not have enough time to pick up the students who were on a normal time schedule and then turn around and pick up the students for late start. Students were usually arriving at school late.

According to Haggart, the only other option would have been to purchase more buses, but that would have cost the district a lot of money.

To put together the new schedule, the administration and the district office worked with the schools to make sure the students were getting the hours of instructional time required by the state.

South Albany High School will start five minutes earlier, but Principal Chris Equinoa is not worried about the time difference.

"Five minutes is insignificant," he said. "If it were 15 or 20 minutes, then we would need to sit down and figure out if that was best for the students."

Schools that are not affected are West Albany High School, North Albany Middle School, Albany Options School and Central and Periwinkle elementary schools.

The board will hear about the new schedule as a report at the June 8 meeting. Chair Don Bacher said that it will not go to a vote with the board, it will just be a business item.

Parents will be notified well in advance of the Sept. 8 first day of school, Haggart said.

New start times

Approved start and stop times for Albany schools next school year. The new times are marked with *:

School Student Start Student End

SAHS 7:40 a.m.* 2:46 p.m.*

Calapooia MS 7:50 a.m.* 2:38 p.m.*

Memorial MS 7:57 a.m.* 2:40 p.m.*

Clover Ridge 9:10 a.m*. 3:30 p.m.

Fir Grove 8:50 a.m.* 3:15 p.m.*

Lafayette 8:40 a.m. 3:10 p.m.*

Liberty 9 a.m.* 3:30 p.m.*

North Albany E.S. 8:55 a.m.* 3:15 p.m.*

Oak 8:25 a.m.* 3:25 a.m.*

Oak Grove 9 a.m.* 3:20 p.m.*

South Shore 9 a.m. 3:20 p.m.*

Sunrise 8:45 a.m. 3:05 p.m.*

Takena 8:45 a.m. 3:05 p.m.*

Tangent 8:30 a.m.* 3:30 p.m.

Waverly 7:55 a.m. 2:18 p.m.*