School Bell Times Study FAQs

Q: What is the percentage of middle school students participating in after school sports?

A: All comprehensive middle schools have sports that require the use of buses outside of regular school hours to transport students to athletic activities. The table below provides the school sports participation data for the 2018-19 school year, which is the last complete sports year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. (Dorothy Hamm opened during the 2019-20 SY)

Q: How is current transportation system supporting the needs of extra-curriculars activities?

A: Requests to transport students in high school program settings (i.e. H-B, Career Center) to their home schools for athletic practices, middle school tennis teams to community or high school courts, and field trip requests during peak routing periods are some examples of current constraints.

Q: What is the percentage of elementary students who have siblings enrolled in an APS middle or high school?

A: Enrollment and Sibling Data Source: Synergy (the APS Student Information System) as of March 8, 2022 at 6 p.m. Dual enrollees are excluded from this analysis.

Q: APS needs to clarify that the School Board, rather than staff, will decide whether to implement bell time changes for the 22-23 school year.  Following a robust, multi-stakeholder engagement effort on this complex topic. The email states the bell time changes will take effect next year, which is premature to conclude at this time (School Bell Times Study Project) Final recommendations will be provided to the School Board as an information item at the April 28, 2022, for action on May 12, 2022.

A: Stakeholder groups of staff, families, and community members are reviewing the addition of 10 minutes to the instructional day and how to best provide comprehensive transportation services for eligible students. This information, to include operations data and survey feedback, and recommendation(s) will be presented to the School Board at the meeting on April 28. The School Board is scheduled to act on this information at the May 12 meeting and will make the final decision. The community is encouraged to share their feedback with the School Board by contacting the School Board and signing up to speak at School Board meetings.  Q: Scenarios 2, 4, and 5 do not include Elementary School Group 3. Why was that? We are in the Elementary Group 3 and I’m not sure what it means that three of the scenarios don’t include that group. A: The scenarios are recommendations based on current bell schedules in an effort to include an additional 10 minutes to the instructional day and how to best provide comprehensive transportation services for eligible students. There are two scenarios which capture the current tier schedules in some manner. Examples 2, 4 and 5 look to collapse the elementary groups into two from three.

The way the survey reads, we are looking to collect feedback on what the community deems their needs. We have not made a final recommendation for school tiers (elementary) because we need to also consider the number of routes needed, impact of location, and traffic constraints for the schools. The survey is purely seeking an individual’s start/end time preference. As a point of reference, here are two visuals to show where elementary schools currently fall, and the number of bus routes needed for all schools as of March 11, 2022:

Current bus needs:

For additional information or questions on the School Bell Times Study, please email engage@apsva.us.