Bibb school district announces new bell schedule

The Bibb County school district has selected a new bell schedule for the 2016-17 school year after more than two months of discussions on the matter.

On Wednesday, Superintendent Curtis Jones finalized the schedule, which will have high school students going to school from 7:30 a.m. to 2:35 p.m., elementary school students going from 8:20 a.m. to 3:20 p.m., and middle school students going from 9:05 a.m. to 4:05 p.m.

“We know change can be hard, but our belief is this change in start and end times will allow us to better serve our students,” Jones said in a release from the district.

The plan was similar to the third option presented in a recent survey, with five-minute shifts to the start of the high and elementary school days and the end of the middle school day. That was the second set of three options presented to parents through a pair of surveys that drew more than 8,000 combined responses.

A shortage of bus drivers was the main impetus behind the change to a three-tiered system, as the current two-tiered plan had led to late arrivals and pickups at various schools across the county.

This story was originally published May 25, 2016 at 3:16 PM with the headline "Bibb school district announces new bell schedule."