The Jackson County School System proposed start and end times to the Board of Education on Thursday, January 5, for the 2023-24 school year. JCSS presented these times in order to gain additional input from students, staff and parents on ways to improve instructional time, road congestion surrounding schools and student transportation times on school buses. 

To better understand the reasoning behind the proposed start and end times for the 2023-24 school year, JCSS has created the following informational page:

A multitude of factors went into the decision to explore a change in start and end times for the 2023-24 school year. Due to the challenges across the district, not all school levels will have the same start and end times.

Among all the feedback JCSS administration has received from various committees, parents and other community stakeholders is the expressed concerns related to traffic on our west side. While district administration has no control over the infrastructure of our roads, we believe it is our responsibility to mitigate traffic patterns around our schools as much as possible. With this being said, JCSS administration believes start and end times have to be adjusted. 

Other factors considered were:

• High school students have the ability to maximize their instructional time with an earlier start and earlier end time, reducing the amount of time missed due to travel for extracurricular activities.

• Elementary students will have a later start time, reducing the amount of time our youngest students wait for school buses in the dark during the morning hours. 

• Shortening bus routes on both sides of the county, making every effort to reduce routes to less than an hour in the morning and afternoon.

With elementary school start times being proposed to start later for the 2023-24 school year, JCSS administration will continue to work with school-level administration in finding the best system possible for families who desire an early drop off to the school building.

JCSS administration sought feedback from various committees and determined differing start times for the two sides of the county were in the best interest of our students and families. 

Within the next month, district administration will continue to meet with its committees to further discuss the proposed times.

Feedback on these proposed start and end times is welcomed by district administration, and emails can be submitted to jcss.pr@jcss.us.