Parents speak out about proposed changes in start times

MARYSVILLE — The school staff, parents and community members who attended the Marysville School District’s Oct. 29 public forum on proposed changes to school start and stop times and transportation schedules, spoke out overwhelmingly against one of the two remaining options for doing so.

Changes in school start and stop times need to take effect during the 2010-11 school year to accommodate the opening of Marysville-Getchell High School and all schools in the district will be affected by the proposed schedule changes. Under Option 6.1, Marysville-Getchell would start and end 10 minutes earlier, while Marysville-Pilchuck High School and the elementary and middle schools would start and end 15 minutes later. Under Option 7.1, the elementary and middle schools would start and end 30 minutes earlier, while the high schools would start and end two hours and 30 minutes later.

“I hate Option 7.1,” said mom Anne Preston. Fellow mom JoAnn Moffitt pointed out that later high school times would conflict with the Big Buddy program which serves 150 children, as well as contest days for school sports. Marysville School District Transportation Supervisor Joe Legare agreed with Moffitt that rural high school students could wind up coming home as late as 6 p.m.

City of Marysville Parks and Recreation Director Jim Ballew and Marysville YMCA Executive Director Wendy Bart noted that they’d not been consulted about Option 7.1’s impacts to their programs, which are largely driven by high school students after school. Marilyn Roberts stated that she knew of five families who plan to move out of the Marysville School District if Option 7.1 is passed.

As a high school parent and staff member, Bonnie Krueger worries that Option 7.1 will force parents to rely on their older children to raise their younger children during school mornings and argued that children need to know that school is their first priority on school mornings.

MSD Board candidate Heather Thweatt asked how difficult it would be to change the schedule again, once one of the two proposed sets of changes are in place. Legare acknowledged that any schedule would need to be tweaked, so the school district will attempt to be fluid in implementing its changes.

Contact Marysville Globe Reporter Kirk Boxleitner at kboxleitner@marysvilleglobe.com or 360-659-1300 Ext. 5052.

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