Late start to school day leaves some parents looking for help

A late start Wednesday to the Libby School District school day has some parents complaining about hitches in their morning routines. Classes at both Libby Elementary School and Libby Middle/High School started at 10:15 a.m. Wednesday, two hours later than usual. 

In past years, schools let out at 1:26 p.m. when teachers underwent in-service training. A committee of school board members, teachers and administrative staff decided to change the schedule earlier this year. Libby Elementary School Principal Ron Goodman said the change was in the interest of student safety.

“A child is less likely to get in trouble at 8 a.m. than at 2 p.m.,” Goodman said. “Before, parents would still be at work until 5 p.m. and the kids would say they were hanging with their friends until 5 p.m. Well, that’s too long. If a kid gets in trouble at 2 p.m., whose trouble is it? Well, they should be in school then.”

While parents no longer have to worry about their children marauding midday around town, some are left with limited morning options. 

“I think this new schedule sucked,” Marcie Thompson, a mother of two district students, said. “I’m a single mom and I have no extra help. My poor sister had to leave her work and pick up the kids.”

Thompson, a pharmacy technician at Libby Drug, said her children slept an extra half hour Wednesday, but were up and moving before mom left the house. 

“They’d still be sleeping if I didn’t get them moving,” Thompson said. “Maybe I should have attended the parent council meeting, but I work five nights a week, too. It threw me for a loop.”

Kallie Decker used her work break at Libby Clinic to take her fourth-grade son, Kael, to school. He spent the first two hours of his morning with mom at work. While Decker was thankful that her place of work allowed the arrangement, she said she was lucky.

“There are employers that might not let a parent do this,” Decker said. “I feel like afternoons are more flexible. I admit that I’m guilty of not attending the council meetings, but I’m a single mom.”

Decker said she learned of the schedule change from an automated voice message sent by the school district. She said she will plan differently for the next teacher improvement day Jan. 28. 

Libby Middle/High School Principal Ruth VanWorth-Rogers said the later start allows students more time to sleep and wake up in the morning. A downside to the early exit format is that students participating in after-school activities had to burn two hours after class let out before starting after-school events. Now, students transition from the classroom as normal. 

While VanWorth-Rogers and Goodman said they had not heard any complaints about the change, they said the topic would be revisited after the school year. 

There are four more scheduled late-start days: Jan. 28, Feb. 25, March 25 and April 29. During shortened days, classes are compressed to 35 minutes from the normal 47 minutes.