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Chicago Public Schools will tweak arrival and dismissal times at 22 schools this fall in order to address ongoing challenges with providing students with busing.
Arrival and dismissal times will be pushed back by 15-30 minutes at nearly all of the schools and families and staff at each school were notified of the changes last week, said CPS spokesperson Evan Moore.
District officials did not provide exact bell schedules for each school.
The time changes are due to a bus driver shortage, according to district officials. They’ve cited a driver shortage in recent years as a factor in why CPS hasn’t been able to provide transportation to general education students. Interim CPS CEO Macquline King said the changes are helping the district “address both our transportation crisis” and its financial challenges. The district is facing a $734 million deficit.
“Regardless of the systemwide benefits, I know this is disruptive” for parents, King said during a Board of Education meeting on Thursday.
The district had suspended transportation for general education students in 2023. That change also came after the state placed CPS on a corrective action plan for exceedingly long bus rides for thousands of students with disabilities. The district has since been taken off that plan.
As it has been in recent years, transportation will be prioritized for students with disabilities, who are legally entitled to transportation if it is included in their Individualized Education Program, and those who are homeless and approved for yellow bus service. CPS officials say about 17,000 students, or 5% of all CPS students, are legally eligible for bus transportation.
King said the district will also again have hub stops this school year, where a group of selective enrollment and magnet schools serve as central pickup and drop off points for general education students. CPS provided busing to 700 general education students using hub stops last school year, and provided bus transportation to 15,790 students by the end of last school year, or 92% of kids who were eligible for transportation.
The district did not say how many students will be eligible to use the hub stops this upcoming school year or exactly when the program will start, except that it will be “later this year.” Families whose students participated last year have been notified that the program is continuing and will be contacted again when the district restarts it.
The hub stops will be for the same schools as last school year.
The district’s Office of Student Transportation had a roughly $140 million budget last school year, slightly lower than the previous year, according to budget records.
Correction: In the list of schools with changing bell times, we have corrected the name of Mosaic School of Fine Arts. CPS initially provided an incorrect name for the school.
Reema Amin is a reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.
