Four elementary schools will begin earlier; middle school
classes will start at 9 a.m.
Some students in the Morgan Hill School District will be going to school a little earlier when school starts back in August; others will have later start times.
The district’s new bell schedule posted on the district web site shows both Britton Middle School and Martin Murphy Middle School with start times of 9 a.m., 15 minutes later than during the 2003-2004 school year.
Britton’s dismissal time will be 2:50 p.m.; Martin Murphy has three more minutes per day, a penalty from the state due to a mistake in extending students’ passing time between classes to help reduce tardies.
The two middle schools will have a shorter day next year as ninth grade students move to Live Oak High and the new Sobrato High, and the middle schools return to state-recommended middle school minutes instead of high school minutes.
Last year, Britton’s and Martin Murphy’s day was 8:45 a.m. to 3:38 p.m.
The two high schools will be on a 8:15 a.m. to 3:26 p.m. schedule.
Last year, Live Oak students started their day at 8:05 a.m., and the final bell rang at 3:26 p.m.
Several of the district’s elementary schools – Barrett, Paradise Valley, P.A. Walsh and San Martin/Gwinn – will begin earlier next year: Barrett will begin 15 minutes earlier at 7:45, and the other three will begin at 7:30 a.m. instead of 7:45 a.m. Their end-of-the-day bell will ring at 1:40 p.m.
Three elementary schools – Burnett, El Toro, Nordstrom – will remain on the same 7:45-1:45 schedule.
Two elementary schools – Jackson and Los Paseos – will open their doors later next year, Jackson at 8 a.m. instead of 7:50 a.m., and Los Paseos at 8:55 a.m. instead of 8:30 a.m.
The schedules were created in meetings with district officials and representatives from the transportation department.
“We tried to keep the schedules as close to current schedules as possible,” said Deputy Superintendent Bonnie Tognazzini. “This is the best compromise districtwide to achieve busing in a district of 350 square-miles. We are fortunate to have a wonderful transportation department willing to work together to create the best scheduling for our students.”
The changing schedules are the result of two changes in the district, according to Tognazzini.
“First of all, we’ve had a change in instructional minutes at the middle schools, which forced us to look at the schedule all on its own,” she said. “But secondly, we’ve also added two sites.”
The middle schools lost 55 minutes because the schools also lost ninth graders, who will be at the high schools when school starts in August. The School Board voted to return Britton and Martin Murphy’s instructional minutes to slightly above those recommended by the state for middle schools.
The two sites Tognazzini refers to are the high schools.
“When the board decided not to provide busing to the high schools, the ninth graders weren’t at the high schools,” she said. “We have expressed some students over to Live Oak from the Park and Ride, but we haven’t provided buses for other students. Now we are going to incorporate them on some of the runs.”
Tognazzini said another factor that made the scheduling of school begin and end times very difficult was that the district can’t add additional buses.
“We would have to add a whole new series of routes (to make next year’s schedules any closer to this year’s),” she said. “And it is very difficult for us to get drivers. We’re very fortunate that we’ve had a mainstay of staff that have been with us for years. The job is hard to fill, with downtime in the middle of the day, and it is demanding.”
Along with changes in scheduling, there are other changes to transportation parents need to know about.
There will be no walk-in service for bus passes. According to the district, the elimination of the service is due to staffing cuts that decreased office personnel. To purchase a bus pass, parents can send applications through the mail to MHUSD Transportation Department, 105 Edes Court, Morgan Hill, 95037, or leave them in the drop box outside the gates of the transportation department on Edes Court.
Another change parents will face is an increase in the cost of passes. The annual pass, which must be purchased by Aug. 10, will cost $270 for one student round-trip, $150 for one student one way, $450 for two students round-trip, $250 for two students one way, $600 for three or more students round-trip and $350 for three or more students one way.
District officials cited increasing fuel costs and lack of district resources as reasons for the increase.
