NEAR WEST SIDE — In a compromise with Chicago Public Schools officials, Whitney Young Magnet Academy's 1,900 students will now have a staggered start time for the 2015-2016 school year.
School will now start at 8:53 a.m. for bused students and at 8 a.m. for all other students, Whitney Young Principal Joyce Kenner said in an e-mail to parents and school staff.
Kenner's announcement comes after CPS officials confirmed they planned to make big changes to the district's bell schedule earlier this summer.
In July, CPS officials initially confirmed plans to change the bell schedules at 60 CPS high schools and 17 elementary schools, but later announced that 82 total schools would shift schedules as much as an hour for the upcoming 2015-2016 school year.
In the e-mail to parents, Kenner said she and principals from Walter Payton College Prep in Old Town, Brooks College Prep Academy in Pullman, Jones College Prep in the South Loop and a representative from Lane Tech College Prep in Roscoe Village met with Janice Jackson, CPS' chief education officer, and Paul Osland, CPS' transportation director.
Top CPS officials agreed to the split schedule that would see bused students, including all Academic Center students, beginning at 8:53 a.m. and ending at 4:13 p.m. and all other students beginning school at 8 a.m. and ending at 3:20 p.m.
"Obviously opinions varied in terms of what start time would be most beneficial," Kenner wrote. "Please be assured I have the best interest of all students in mind!"
Lane Tech's principal told parents in July that the school would adopt the split schedule.
Shifting the start time at 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, according to CPS spokeswoman Emily Bittner.
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