There are multiple factors that led to Sweet Home’s consideration of changes to our start/stop times. Based on our updated teacher contract, we will be incorporating 15 extra minutes of instruction time for all students at Sweet Home beginning next school year. Since the bell schedule was going to change for our students in the 25/26 school year, the BUC felt this was an opportune time to address the bus driver shortage in the District.

For several years we have been challenged with a shortage of bus drivers. Despite intensive recruitment efforts, we remain at about half of the drivers we had prior to COVID. Couple this with an enrollment increase of nearly 700 students over the past three years, the District struggles to complete basic transportation tasks. Also, these issues have created inequitable access to extracurricular activities for all of our students. 

We know that decisions like this have an impact on our staff, students, and families. We wanted to ensure everyone had a voice in the process. The Building Use Committee consists of parents, Board of Education members, administrators, teachers, and staff. We looked at this potential change from the perspective of each of these stakeholders to consider all angles carefully.

• Incorporating 15 more minutes of instructional time for all students at Sweet Home into the bell schedules;
• Addressing the bus driver shortage crisis in the District;
• Studying the potential elimination of staggered start/stop times at the elementary level that have caused delays in getting students to and from school on time;
• Increasing the number of after-school runs in the District to increase student participation in extracurricular activities; and
• Keeping the elementary schedule as close to the current schedule as possible.

The following proposal was approved by the Board of Education on February 11, 2025:

1. Place the elementary run as the last run of the day. Since the elementary run is door-to-door pickup, this is our longest run and the one with the most delays. By placing elementary as the last run, drivers would have a cushion of time to account for unforeseen circumstances.
2. Eliminate staggered start and stop times at the elementary level and place all elementary schools on the same schedule.
3. Place the High School and Middle School 19 minutes apart to help increase participation in extracurricular activities for students and teachers at the Middle School. Currently, our Middle School dismissal time is the latest in Erie County. This change would allow those participating in extracurricular activities to be home at an earlier time in the evening. If they have a younger sibling, they could be home to greet their sibling as well.
4. Since grades 6-12 are picked up and dropped off at bus stops throughout the District, have those grades ride the bus together, filling our secondary buses in the morning and the afternoon. The high school would be dropped off first in the morning, and the middle school dropped off next. In the afternoon, the High School would be picked up first, and the Middle School last.

The start/stop times for the 2025-2026 School Year are as follows:

High School

7:19 a.m. to 2:05 p.m.

Middle School

7:40 a.m. to 2:24 p.m.

All Four Elementary Schools

8:55 a.m. to 3:10 p.m. (students would depart the building at 3:15)

With the elementary run as the last run of the day, it allows for extra time for our drivers in case of unforeseen circumstances. Elementary runs are door-to-door pickup, and if one delay occurs, it can delay the driver and force students, especially at the MS, to be late for first period. The new proposal accounts for delays in the elementary run. Also, MS students will have more time in the afternoon to participate in extracurricular activities. The new proposal will free drivers to complete more after-school runs, in turn, increasing participation at all levels. Teachers at the MS will also have more time to lead clubs and coach at the High School level.

In short, this comes down to a shortage of bus drivers. Our bus runs need to be staggered by high school, middle school and elementary school levels in order to ensure that we transport our students safely and efficiently to and from school every day. If each school level overlapped bell schedules, we would need to have about 60-70 percent more drivers to complete the task. That workforce is not available. Our transportation department, particularly our drivers, are doing an outstanding job of being extremely flexible while dealing with a depleted workforce. We thank them for their hard work and dedication to our students and families.

The District has been, and will continue to explore options for before-school child care including, but not limited to, expanding our partnership with Just for Kids. With these changes now approved, we can move forward with investigating other options as well that we may offer to our families.

We will be conducting a parent survey to determine the need for before school care. More information to follow.

Student safety is our top priority at Sweet Home and that includes bus safety. We will continue to supply bus monitors on our buses, and hire monitors if needed, to staff the HS/MS runs.  All of our buses are also equipped with cameras that include audio recording. We will continually monitor trends of behavior on our buses and make adjustments if necessary, including the possibility of assigned seating. While including students 6-12 on one bus is common practice for many of our neighboring districts, we understand this represents a significant change for Sweet Home and are prepared to monitor it closely.

For any students who have specific transportation needs identified in their Individualized Education Program, those accommodations will continue to be met as per the IEP. 

We recognize that the HS in particular has an early start. The new MS start time falls in line with many other MS start times in WNY. With that said, the new HS start time is a slight change, 6 minutes, from where it currently stands. We made this decision for several reasons. First, in order to get all 3,800 students to and from school in a safe and timely manner, we have to stagger our runs by school level. Next year, once our drivers finish the HS/MS run, they immediately turn their attention to the elementary run. We use the same drivers for all school levels simply because we would not have enough drivers to transport students to and from school if the schedules were aligned. We would have to add 60-70 percent more drivers, and that workforce, even though we have made all the effort possible to recruit them, does not exist. 

Pushing back the time at the HS and MS would also mean pushing back the time at the elementary level as well. The committee felt that any later of a morning start for our elementary families would cause significant disruption to their work schedules.

We also know that participation in extracurricular activities improves attendance, behavior, and achievement levels. By freeing up the afternoon for HS and MS students, we believe more students will have a chance to participate in extracurricular activities. Also, MS students can now be home to greet their younger siblings off of the bus.