At the Olathe Public Schools Board Dec. 7 meeting, the board voted to approve a change in start times for elementary, middle and high schools starting next school year, as well as new graduation requirements.
“At the regular December Board of Education meeting, the Board voted to change the start and end time schedule beginning in the 2024-25 school year after much discussion and evaluation of feedback from parents, students and staff,” superintendent Brent Yeager said in an email to parents.
Starting next year, high schools and Prairie Learning Center will be starting at 7:40 a.m. and ending at 2:40 p.m. middle schools and Heartland Early Childhood Center will be moved to 8:20 a.m. to 3:20 p.m., and elementary and Harmony Early Childhood Center will be 8:55 a.m. to 3:55 p.m.
“This recommendation is the least disruptive to the overall system,” Yeager said. “Both survey data from families and staff and input from secondary students supported this schedule, and it is a long-term solution to address the labor market with annual financial savings.”
These changes were proposed previously to combat the transportation challenges the district was facing with buses.
“We understand this change will impact every family differently, and the magnitude of this decision has not been lost,” Yeager said. “Please be on the lookout for more information on solutions impacting each level and the transportation restrictions in place for this year that will be removed.”
Not only did start times change, but so did the graduation requirements for students starting with the class of 2028 and beyond.
“As we prepare for enrollment season, we are making adjustments to prepare our incoming highschoolers and their families because many of our families have already graduated students in our schools so helping them understand what those changes look like and how we are going to do everything we can to meet their students interests and needs again has been really important,” Career Readiness Coordinator Alicia Jackson said during the meeting.
The graduation requirements were previously updated earlier this year, keeping the same number of credits. However the new number of credits needed to graduate will increase from 21 to 24 and require a few added courses like life studies and an extra credit in individual focus.
In addition to the new changes the board made during the meeting was an unexpected announcement that board member Brian Connell would be resigning effective Jan. 7. The board plans to share updates regarding finding his replacement.
The board released a typed review of the meeting as well as a video recording of the meeting on their youtube channel.
