Cheney school board enacts staggered start

CHENEY — Cheney school board members elected to commence a staggard start schedule for the 2021-2022 academic year at the June 23 board meeting. Because of lingering issues with the pandemic regarding staffing, logistics, and scheduling, for the first time, the Cheney School District will amend school start times based on education level.

The primary motivation for the change, as listed by the school board, pertains to a lack of bus drivers, increasing student populations, athletics, childcare, and problems created by a dispersed population within the school boundaries. “We were doing K-12, everybody at once, as long as we could,” said Superintendent Robert Roettger. “We just reached that point where, you know, [we have] fewer bus drivers, more students. It’s not feasible any longer.”

With no high school in Airway Heights, Cheney draws students from approximately 380 square miles, including a vast majority of rural regions southwest of Spokane. Furthermore, bus routes must reach these areas prior to school, and are often delayed by winter road conditions.

The decision comes after months of planning and deliberation, supplemented with feedback from the community. A committee of fifty people, with varying degrees of investment and positions within the district, were formed to further discuss an appropriate plan for the fall. This group held three meetings and exchanged feedback amongst one another to ensure issue were adequately addressed.

These reports were then vetted by administrators and transportation leads to attain comprehensive feedback and predict issues that might arise in the future. The board noted that changing weather and seasons will influence how they move forward as winter approaches this year.

“I’ll be completely honest, I don’t think there’s a perfect solution,” said Roettger. “We’re also trying to predict what possible issues we’ll have to work through. Because no matter which solution we select, there’s going to be some issues that we have to address. And there’s probably some that we didn’t even think about that will come up as we initiate whatever a potential option looks like.”

The current schedule calls for elementary school beginning first, with middle, and high school following. This sequence would allow younger students to be supported and monitored by older students.

In addition, a financial update was provided by the district for the school year. Despite notable effects from the virus, Financial Director Jamie Winegart reported that the budget aligned with previous years.

Comments from the public raised concerns with pay for mechanics in the Transportation Department and the possibility of Critical Race Theory being taught into the classroom.

Scott Davis can be reached at [email protected].