CFISD won't alter school start/end times for next year

Yesterday Cypress-Fairbanks Independent School District Superintendent David Anthony sent out a Key Communicator" letter stating that next school year the district would not change the bus transportation schedule, which would have resulted in some schools starting classes as late as 9:10 a.m. and ending at 4:10 p.m.
However, it could happen in the 2011-12 school year.
That proposed move from a three-tier to a four-tier bus schedule would have altered schools' start and end times to accommodate a high school bus run, a middle school bus run, and two elementary bus runs.
Anthony said the change would have saved the district about $1 million.
An excerpt from the letter:
Based on all of the input that we have received, we will not implement this change for the 2010-11 school year. There are several legitimate concerns that must be given additional thought and planning before the change is made. We do plan, barring a significant positive change in our revenues, to implement the four-tiered transportation system and later start/end times for the 2011-12 school year. During the next year, we will work to determine the configuration of the start/end times that has the least amount of impact on our community. However, there is not a problem-free scenario."
Cy-Fair ISD officials received numerous e-mails about the proposal many from parents, students, staff and extracurricular activity leaders who stated they needed more time to adjust childcare, class and activities schedules to accommodate this major change.
The proposal was part of a list of about $10 million in budget cuts district officials identified for the 2010-11 school year.
Anthony said he encouraged Cy-Fair ISD community members to review that information on PowerPoint (http://www.cfisd.net/dept2/finance/CFISD%202010-11%20Budget%20Workshop.pdf) or the webcast (http://www.cfisd.net/movies/fbm030810/fbm030810_4a.htm) of the board meeting at which he made the presentation.
The 2010-11 budget public hearing is scheduled for the April 8 board meeting, which starts at 6 p.m. in the Cy-Fair ISD board room, 10300 Jones Road.