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Mather H.S. School Day Now 9 A.M. to 4:15 P.M., 'Plan Ahead' School Says

By Linze Rice | August 4, 2015 6:21am
 Mather High School in West Ridge is among four area schools to experience a change to their school hours for the upcoming year.
Mather High School in West Ridge is among four area schools to experience a change to their school hours for the upcoming year.
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DNAinfo/Justin Breen

WEST RIDGE — Mather High School is one of four West Ridge Schools to be affected by Chicago Public Schools' citywide effort to save money by changing start and end times at 82 schools across the city.

According to CPS and Mather, the school day will start an hour later at 9 a.m. and will now end at 4:15 p.m.

In a letter to parents posted online, Mather officials confirmed the time was changed by CPS and urged families to "plan ahead" to adjust to the time difference.

Other West Ridge schools including Stone, Decatur and Jamieson all will see changes to their start times this year as well, with many parents saying they're unhappy about the shift citing difficulty in scheduling, safety concerns and expressing worry that students will spend too many hours a day at school.

On July 1, Chicago Public Schools officials announced bell times would shift at some schools as part of the $200 million in cuts the school system rolled out. Schools with changing bell times were given final notice of their schedules on Monday, CPS spokeswoman Emily Bittner said.

Shifting the start time at the 77 schools will save CPS $9.2 million by reducing the number of bus shifts to two, allowing CPS to cut 160 buses and 75 aides, Bittner said.

"With a $1.1 billion budget deficit, the bell time shift provides significant savings instead of making cuts to the classroom," she said.

Representatives from Mather could not be reached for comment.

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