Next week, there will be four public meetings at the Stanly Commons regarding the idea of staggered school times.

This idea was initially discussed during Stanly County Board of Education work sessions and a committee of principals, teachers and other school staff members were involved with the process and they even visited school districts that already had staggered start times.

The staggered start times would increase the school efficiency transportation rating and would also increase bus driver employees from part-time to full-time, said Hope Miller-Drye, administrative and board assistant at SCS.

The school buses would arrive at 8:30 and the schools would start at 9:00.

Scott Denton is a consultant with School Efficiency Consultants. He was hired in November by the SCS to help the school district use resources more efficiently and effectively, said Mike Lambert, SCS director of transportation.

Aquadale Elementary, Stanfield Elementary, Richfield Elementary, Central Elementary, Millingport Elementary and Albemarle Middle School are the schools that would be affected by the staggered start time.

Meetings will be held March 13 and 14 at 4:00 for licensed daycare owners to hear about the proposed idea and provide feedback and the same program at 6:00 for parents and members of the community to listen and provide feedback. Denton will facilitate the meetings and the meetings will be the same both days.

“The purpose of the meetings next week is to get input from those parents at those sites on what they feel they need for support to make this work,” said SCS Superintendent Jeff James.

Daycare owners are being informed of the idea because they can partner with the schools in a facilities use joint resolution to share the building space, James said. Also an additional support staff member would be at the schools in the morning for early student drop-off and in the afternoon for late pickup, he said.

The following week, a meeting will be held with the school board to provide them with a summary of the findings and recommendations from the public meetings.

For anyone who can’t make either meeting, video of the meetings will be broadcast on YouTube.