White Plains superintendent provides update on possible earlier elementary school start time; parents express concerns

Parents in White Plains are still pushing against the proposal to change the start time of one elementary starting next year.

Julia Rosier

Dec 10, 2024, 3:47 AM

Updated 11 days ago

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Parents in White Plains are still pushing against the proposal to change the start time of one elementary starting next year.
Some parents with kids at Church Street Elementary School love that their kids go to school earlier than the other elementary schools.
But starting next school year, that could all change.
While no decision was made at Monday's Board of Education meeting, Superintendent Joseph Ricca presented an update.
Right now, Church Street Elementary opens at 7:55 a.m., with a start time of 8:15 a.m. The proposed plan would change that to 25 minutes later to open at 8:20 a.m. and starting at 8:40 a.m.
Ricca says this proposed change could need to happen because the cost of district transportation has increased dramatically. It's about a $2 million increase per year starting next year.
"We anticipated that the cost would go up and they went up even more than we could have anticipated," says Ricca.
Parents are concerned about kids getting on the bus on their own and finding before and after school care that is affordable. "This will only make it trickier. I'll have to change my start time to 10 a.m., which that means I get home later to see my kids," says Julia Oliva, a parent. This will continue to be discussed by the Board of Education and community.