COLORADO SPRINGS — After a comprehensive study, a district-wide survey, and several committees and town halls, Academy District 20 has again decided to postpone its decision to change school start and end times for the 2024-2025 school year.
Despite a largely negative community response to the proposed change, Chief Communication Officer, M. Allison Cortez reports that the district is no closer to finding "a logistically feasible solution that meets the goal of student wellness."
District 20's overall goal of creating a schedule where secondary students start later than younger students is still very much in place, although it would have gone into effect for the upcoming 2023-2024 school year.
In an email sent out to District 20 staff and families, the school district announced that they will continue trying to figure out the logistics needed to put the new start and end times into action. You can read that email in full below:
After considerable feedback, we will suspend our decision to change School Start/End Times for the 2024-25 school year.
To date, we conducted a comprehensive study, held committees and town halls, and deployed a district-wide survey. Still, we are not closer to finding a logistically feasible solution that meets the goal of student wellness.
You may be asking, what’s next? Our long-term goal remains; creating a Start/End Time Schedule where secondary students start later than their younger peers. Moving forward, we will continue researching and evaluating the logistics needed for optimal start times, which includes transportation resources.
We recognize this has been a challenging process for all involved. Thank you for your feedback and support as we navigated this situation together.
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