Consultant says Busing Challenges Limit Changes to Start Times for Metro Nashville Public Schools

Participants at Tuesday’s town hall in Madison (Photo by Sky Arnold)

Jeff Weems has three children attending Metro Nashville Public Schools (MNPS) in the Madison area, including a son in high school. He says the district’s existing 7:05 am high school start time comes too early each morning.

“We just kind of feel that that’s not the best for older kids that need sleep,” said Weems. “We get up at 5:30 in the morning, and the kid does too, you know, our high schooler. We just feel that that’s kind of a little too early for him. 

The district is hosting six town halls this week, including one Weems attended on Tuesday, to give parents an opportunity to weigh in on proposals to change school start times. That includes potential changes to middle schools’ 8:55 am start time and to elementary schools’ 8:00 am start time.

Feedback Included in Proposals

Last year, MNPS gathered feedback from parents, students, and staff. That research found support for moving high school start times later, but less demand for similar changes for younger students. Any changes will come with complications, though including potential impacts on child care, after after-school sports, and jobs for high school students.

Jeff Weems (left) discussing start time proposals with Mary Dillman (right) at Tuesday’s town hall. (Photo by Sky Arnold)

The district hired the consulting company 4MATIV to develop proposals based on the research, and this week it unveiled three options.

The first, called the Squeeze, would move high school start and dismissal times back by 20 minutes and elementary school times back by ten minutes. This option would not impact middle school start times. 

4MATIV’s Mary Dillman told spectators and Tuesday’s town hall that consultants considered “squeezing” start times even closer, but couldn’t because of the challenges it would create in busing kids to school. Roughly 38,000 MNPS students ride the bus, and Dillman said consultants were careful to ensure each proposal could be implemented without hurting transportation.

“It’s about finding drivers, and it’s about the labor market to actually hire them. So right now the district actually has open unfilled bus driver positions,” said Dillman. “This is as tightly compacted as we feel that we could deliver it and ensure equivalent or better on-time performance next year. It’s still gonna take rolling up the sleeves with the transportation team.”

The second proposal, called the Shift, would involve fewer transportation challenges. This plan would move the start times for all grades, including middle schoolers, forward by 15 minutes.

The third proposal would leave all existing start and dismissal times in place.

Graphic by MNPS

Next Steps

Parents are encouraged to submit their feedback on the proposals online or at one of the town halls this week. District leaders plan to use that feedback to make a recommendation for the school board to consider at their January 27 meeting. It’s possible that the recommendation could involve changes to one of the three existing proposals.

Weems told the Tennessee Firefly that his preference would be to simply switch the high school and elementary school start and dismissal times. Consultants considered that option but opted against it in favor of the Squeeze and Shift proposals.

Of the two, Weems says he prefers the Squeeze.

“That’s kind of like the best of the least options,” said Weems. “We just feel that the elementary kids would kind of be better off starting earlier, and the high school kids, science tends to fall on, they need more sleep.”