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Merging the Start and Dismissal Time for Four Peaks and the Middle School
On Tuesday evening, February 7th, assistant superintendent Dr. Robert Allen, Four Peaks/Middle School principal Anita Gomez, McDowell Mountain Elementary principal Valerie Dehombreux, transportation director John Flynn, and I hosted a parent forum to discuss the merging of start and dismissal times for Four Peaks Elementary and Fountain Hills Middle School for the 2017-2018 school year. We had about 35 people in attendance, including parents and staff members, and we sincerely appreciate all of them taking time to come to and learn about our plans. It is my intent here today to share important details of those plans and the reasons for making this change, and to provide an additional opportunity for parents to share any concerns they may have related to this.
Benefits of Merging
In looking at this issue, we believe there are benefits for students, parents, and overall school operations in having common start and end times for grades 4 through 8.
The benefits students can experience with the merge of the school hours include a consolidated bus run. Students in grades kindergarten to eight will ride together, many with siblings, which may be helpful to many families. Our club offerings will expand to include grades four to eight both before and after school. Buddy classrooms (the pairing of fourth and fifth grade homerooms with middle school classes) will promote school spirit and academic supports, expanding our cross-grade level tutoring during the school day. School spirit events will include all students in the same place at the same time.
Aligned school hours will allow for variety in scheduling for all grades. Professional development will consolidate all five grade levels and allow articulation meetings and planning by department and grade levels so that teachers can improve lesson planning and collaboration. A new bell schedule will allow parents to plan for nine years of consistent school hours.
The Schedule
For grades 4 through 8, the schedule would be as follows:
Regular School Day - 8:30 a.m. to 3:10 p.m.
One-Hour Early Release Wednesdays - 8:30 a.m. to 2:10 p.m.
Half-Day Early Release - 8:30 a.m. to 12:15 p.m.
For McDowell Mountain Elementary, grades K-3, the schedule remains essentially unchanged:
Regular School Day - 8:45 a.m. to 3:20 p.m.
One-Hour Early Release Wednesdays - 8:45 a.m. to 2:20 p.m.
Half-Day Early Release* - 8:45 a.m. to 12:25 p.m.
(this is 5 minutes earlier than
current practice)
Changes in Busing
Currently, we bus students in grades 6-12 together on one run, picking up and dropping off students at the high school and middle school. We have a separate run for students in grades K-5, picking up and dropping off students at Four Peaks and McDowell Mountain. With the new schedule, high school students will be bused separately and we will combine students in grades K-8 on the second run.
To accommodate this new configuration, we will make significant changes in bus routes, taking into consideration the number of students from each grade level at each designated stop in order to have relative balance in our passenger loads and to maintain safety on the buses. Mr. Flynn has shared with me that the current bus routes have been largely the same for as long as anyone can remember so I recognize that changing the bus routes will affect many of our parents and students. Mr. Flynn has put considerable time into analyzing this issue already and expects to have a draft of the proposed new bus routes available for public distribution by mid-March. We want to get that information out to parents this spring and to solicit feedback regarding any concerns and/or recommendations you have so we can adjust those routes and have a final draft of them by mid-April. We will then distribute those far and wide so everyone is prepared for the new routes at the beginning of the next school year.
In researching the issue of combining grades K-8 for busing purposes, we found that 11 districts in the Phoenix metropolitan area successfully and safely transport students in that manner. We continue to research so that we can implement "best practices" and I'm confident that FHUSD can safely and efficiently transport our students as well.
Please take a few minutes and share any questions or concerns you have with the merging of start times for Four Peaks Elementary and Fountain Hills Middle School. Our goal is to make life easier for parents and we are early enough in the process to adjust for improvements based on your concerns and recommendations.
Use this link to share concerns and recommendations.
Kind Regards,
Patrick Sweeney, Ed.D.
Superintendent
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