Charlie Breitrose
Hosmer Elementary School in Watertown.
In an effort to reduce the amount of time students have to wait for buses after school at one Hosmer Elementary School the School Committee voted to start school later.
Students routinely wait five to ten minutes for the bus to come to take them home, and at least once a bus was 20 minutes late. The three buses must make a run from the middle school, before picking up Hosmer students.
In a move to give buses more time the School Committee voted to make the time change. They considered moving the time of both the Hosmer and Watertown Middle School, but decided to just change the elementary school’s schedule, said Superintendent Jean Fizgerald.
“An alternative solution was to start 10 minutes later,” Fitzgerald said. “Hosmer will start at 8:30 (a.m.) and end at 2:45 (p.m.), rather than 8:20 and 2:35.”
The district will lease a fourth bus to make one after-school run from Hosmer.
“If we didn’t have the fourth bus then we would have to change the schedule by more (than 10 minutes),” Fitzgerald said.
The other elementary schools will keep their current schedule. Hosmer families will have until the fall to prepare for the new schedule.
“Hopefully giving families five months warning will allow them to adjust,” Fitzgerald said.
School officials said the school has a before-school program, and students can also show up early and have breakfast at the cafeteria. The school also offers some physical education programs before school through the PEP Grant.
Coming from a a two parent working family this 10 minute delay actually further hinders an already difficult commute for both mother and father…it turn semi peak commute into max commute. I am not sure how this helps parents in any way.