Last January, the Clark Country School District announced that there would be a change in start times and end times for schools all across the district. Generally, elementary schools will start at 9:00 a.m., middle schools will start at 8:00 a.m., and high schools will start at 7:00 a.m. The change will be a 5 to 15-minute deviation in the current start and end time. For the 2022-23 school year, Shadow Ridge High School is planned to start at 7:00 a.m. and end at 1:11 p.m.

Start and end times changed because CCSD is currently experiencing a shortage of bus drivers. Due to this, students are coming into class late or aren’t getting home until later in the afternoon.

CCSD Superintendent Dr. Jesus F. Jara says, “The District is committed to maintaining bus services for our eligible students, and these changes will improve transportation service reliability and timeliness.”

These slight adjustments in times are expected to drastically improve on-time rates for students and will impact more than half of the school campuses in the district.

CCSD states, “By adjusting the start and end times for students, CCSD will be able to offer the same level of service with increased on-time rates and improved efficiency through route consolidation.”

Despite the District’s optimism for the transition, many CCSD staff and parents don’t think that it is a complete solution to the serious problem.

CCSD Parent Meredith Freeman says, “The district is doing what it has to do within the constraints. They could do so many more drastic things, and I think this is a small first step to getting this under control with the limited resources they have.”

CCSD Parent Mark Darcey says, “Because of the school buses being so unreliable we have given up on the school buses, and have teamed together with several other parents in our neighborhood. We all take turns taking them to and picking them up from school.”

Although Shadow Ridge isn’t affected drastically, some schools are starting significantly earlier than usual. Another problem is that the change in times doesn’t solve the problem of buses not providing transportation for students who attend magnet schools that they aren’t zoned for. Whether the slight adjustment fixes the situation will remain unclear until next year.