Mohip changes school start times to benefit students, parents

YOUNGSTOWN

Different start times may prove better for both Youngstown City Schools students and parents.

As classes resume Tuesday for the district, students will be starting school at times that are different from last year.

“A later start time will give those students a better chance at getting a little more sleep so they can come to school each morning ready to do their best,” said school district CEO Krish Mohip in a statement.

“The changes just feel student-centered,” said Megan Mercado, a mother of two district students, who said she supports the time changes as benefiting the children.

Extracurricular activities will not be hurt by the new start and end times, Mohip added.

“Those activities can run into early evening,” he said.

Chaney High School begins classes at 9:25 a.m. with the first bell at 9:20 a.m., changed from

8 a.m. last year. Dismissal is at

4:30 p.m.

At East High School, first period begins at 9:15 a.m. with the first bell at 9:05 a.m. The last period of the day concludes at 4:20 p.m., and students have until 4:30 p.m. to be out of the building or at their after-school activity.

Students at the district’s nine schools for pre-kindergarten to eighth grade will start classes at 8:15 a.m. Dismissal will be at 3:40 p.m. Those schools are Paul C. Bunn, Kirkmere, Volney, Harding, Martin Luther King, William Holmes McGuffey, Taft, Williamson and Wilson.

Youngstown Early College High School start at 8 a.m. with dismissal at 2:30 p.m. Rayen Early College Intermediate School students will arrive at school at 7:30 a.m. with dismissal at 2:50 p.m.

District spokeswoman Denise Dick said it is the hope of the city schools administration that later start times will benefit adolescents, and earlier start times for elementary children will benefit the schedules of working parents.

Read more about the changes in Thursday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.