Long Beach District Weighs New School Hours

Pressed to cut costs further for the 2013-14 school year, the Long Beach Board of Education is seeking public input about proposed new school hours at its meeting tonight.

The school board overseeing Long Beach Unified will meet at 5 p.m. Tuesday in the Stanford Middle School Auditorium at 5871 E. Los Arcos St., Long Beach.

"The school board looks forward to discussing the matter and hearing public testimony," LBUSD spokesman Chris Eftychiou said Monday. "No decision is expected this week, but we could see a decision at next week's meeting (Feb. 5)."

Some parents and students favor later start times for teenagers because some studies indicate they perform better later in the day, although other parents need to be at work before a 9 a.m. Others object because a later dismissal time pushes into after school sports practices that are already racing against sundown.

"The Board of Education will also hold a special workshop session regarding Measure K school construction and renovation in the morning Tuesday. The workshop will have a half hour closed session and then begin with the public workshop at 9 a.m. in the Emphasis Gallery (Room 15) at Renaissance High School, located at 235 E. 8th St., Long Beach.

Click here to review the two proposed schedules, dubbed Plan A and Plan B.

"As part of the Long Beach Unified School District’s ongoing efforts to make the wisest use of its limited resources, the school district has been examining the efficiency of its school schedules in grades K-12.  Over the years, the variety of school schedules here has increased significantly, making the district’s transportation services less efficient than they could be with more standardized scheduling.

" LBUSD could save more than $1 million in transportation through schedule adjustments. As part of proposed schedule changes,LBUSD may start the high school day an hour later next school year. Staff first proposed this idea to the school board at a public meeting in November, in part because of convincing research that shows teens perform better academically when they start school later."

DO YOU HAVE AN OPINION YET? Tell us in comments.