PILSEN — Less than two weeks after changing the start time at Benito Juarez High School, CPS officials have now rolled the Pilsen school's start time back to 7:45 a.m.
Juarez was one of the 82 Chicago Public Schools that were targeted for a new start time for this upcoming school year. CPS officials previously planned to shift Juarez's start time to 9 a.m.
On Monday, CPS officials confirmed classes at Juarez would continue to start at 7:45 a.m. and end at 3 p.m. as in previous years.
The changes were initially made to save the district money on transportation costs, as bus routes have also been dramatically cut.
Juarez is one of the 34 schools that will now keep their same start time after the schools were slated to have bell times changed, CPS officials announced Monday.
“After listening to educators, students and families express their concerns about changing bell times, the Board of Education felt it was incredibly important to work with principals to determine the best options for their school communities,” board President Frank Clark said in a statement. “By engaging principals and learning about the many unintended consequences the changing bell times caused, we decided to rescind those changes that had a negative impact on schools."
Students at Whitney Young Magnet Academy, a selective enrollment high school on the Near West Side, will have staggered start times this upcoming school year.
At some affected high schools, start times will shift to 9 a.m. and affected elementary schools, for the most part, will shift to an earlier start time of 7:30 or 7:45 a.m.
Initially, CPS said the bell and bus changes would save the district $13.5 or $9 million, but now they say the savings will be about $5 million.
As DNAinfo previously reported, CPS also plans to cut at least 280 bus stops throughout the city, but the school system was not releasing a list of consolidated stops until "later 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.
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