TULSA, Okla. — Union Public Schools (UPS) has approved new hours for the 2022-2023 school year.
UPS says the need for the change is because some buses are consistently late picking up students at several secondary schools. Officials say they looked at several possible solutions, including hiring a significant number of new bus drivers, spreading the day out further from start to finish, or moving elementary schools to the second wave of buses.
“It was felt that neither of the first two choices listed were feasible,” Superintendent Dr. Kirt Hartzler said, “especially considering the severe shortage of bus drivers.”
The new times are:
Another reason for the change was to decrease the amount of wait time after school for the middle school students, creating a more controlled and safer environment. There was also a desire to separate the sixth and seventh grade arrival and departure times due to current overlapping of buses and traffic issues.
- 7:40 a.m. – 2:22 p.m. 7th Grade
- 7:40 a.m. – 2:24 p.m. 8th Grade
- 8:15 a.m. – 2:57 p.m. Elementary
- 8:35 a.m. – 3:37 p.m. High School
- 8:45 a.m. – 3:27 p.m. Freshman Academy
- 9:25 a.m. – 4:07 p.m. 6th Grade
The new times also reduce the overall length of the school day, and the sixth graders will get out of school 10 minutes earlier than the current schedule.
Superintendent Dr. Kirt Hartzler and the Long-Range Planning Committee recommended the changes and the Board of Education approved them.
You can read the official announcement from Union here.