Josh Chase
Correspondent 

When the Prior Lake-Savage Area School Board next month, members will have two start time proposals to choose from.

That’s after the Attendance Boundary Committee pitched a new proposal Monday night – one that moves nonpublic school students to the third and latest start times tier.

If the latest proposal is accepted, students attending nonpublic schools – St. Michael’s Catholic School, St. Paul’s Lutheran School and Prior Lake Christian School – whose parents were the most vocal in their opposition to the first proposal, will now attend school from 9:20 a.m. to 3:55 p.m.

Middle school students, also in the third tier, would go to school from 9:20 a.m. to 4:15 p.m. That aspect of the proposal drew some concern from Board Member Eric Pratt, who said a long standing start-times parameter called for no students to leave school after 4 p.m.

Jim Dellwo, an ABC chairman, said the only way middle schools could end earlier would be if they started earlier, which wouldn’t be compatible with the other tiers’ bus schedules.

“We’ve compressed as much time out of the schedule as we can,” Dellwo explained. “There are no more magic minutes in there.”

Most school bus rides, Dellwo added, last 30 minutes. Some, he said, may go to 35 minutes, which would push bus route drop-off times for middle school students close to 5 p.m.

Unfortunately, School Board Chairwoman Lee Shimek said, there’s no reasonable way to please everyone.

“I think the reality is somebody has to start earlier and somebody is going to have to start later,” she said. “I think this is a good compromise from what we heard from the community.”

Glendale, Jeffers Pond, WestWood and Redtail Ridge elementary schools, which make up the first tier, would start at 7:50 a.m. and end at 2:20 p.m. The Edgewood School morning program would go from 7:50 a.m. to 10:50 p.m. It’s afternoon program would go from 11:20 a.m. to 2:20 p.m.

In the second tier, Grainwood and Five Hawks elementary schools start at 8:30 a.m. and end at 3 p.m. Prior Lake High School will go from 8:30 a.m. to 3:25 p.m.

“This fits better with adolescent sleep patterns,” said Dellwo. “And activities after school would be less affected.”

A public forum will be at 6:30 p.m. Monday, March 30 in the District Services Center, 4540 Tower St., Prior Lake. The board is expected to make its decision Monday, April 13 at 7 p.m., also at the District Services Center.

 Josh Chase can be reached at (952) 345-6375 or jchase@swpub.com.