LETTER: Clark County School District ignores survey on start times

I am mystified as to why Clark County School District officials did a survey regarding school times when they weren’t willing to go with the proposal that the most people favored when votes were tallied. Pushing school times back 30 minutes at all levels was favored the most by parents, students, teachers and staff. These are the people who will be directly affected by the changes.

High school students who participate in sports and extracurricular activities won’t get any more sleep if practice is pushed back to later in the evening. If practices and activities are moved to before school starts, students still won’t get any more sleep. Students who have jobs, who pick up and care for younger siblings and have other obligations will also be directly affected.

I’m sure there was an expense incurred, even if it was only labor, in doing this survey. The decision to go with “Scenario 3,” which as supported by 55.3 percent of respondents, is also going to cost more than $5 million as the district must purchase new buses and hire 51 new drivers. If the district had gone with “Scenario 4” (57.4 percent support), there would not have been additional expenses incurred as all starting times would be spaced one hour apart, as they are currently.

The new start times are not what the public wanted, and the district is not being fiscally responsible by selecting a scenario that will cost more money.