In a unanimous vote, albeit with some reluctance, the Hempfield Area School Board has implemented changes to the student schedule for the 2025-26 school year, aiming to get students home earlier amid a persistent shortage of bus drivers. As reported by TribLive, the restructuring of school day times is set to alleviate the pressure from the transportation predicament facing the district.
Hempfield Area School District Superintendent Dr. Mark Holtzman pointed out a particularly stark conundrum to WTAE in saying, "We have little children getting home after 5 o’clock. Many of them are in extracurriculars and there’s no way in the world for them to get where they need to go with about 95 square miles of our community." High school students, who have traditionally been waking up at the crack of dawn, will now start their day five minutes later at 7:30 a.m. and end 15 minutes earlier at 2:30 p.m. Elementary students will start 15 minutes earlier at 8:45 a.m. and will be dismissed between 3:20 p.m. and 3:45 p.m., which is approximately 20 minutes earlier than this year's schedule.
Meanwhile, the most notable change affects middle school students, who will now start their day an hour earlier at 7:30 a.m. and will be dismissed at 2:30 p.m., nearly an hour earlier than before. “These are little kids, not adults,” said parent Karie McCafferty, who voiced her concern to the School Board about her son having to wake up extremely early to prepare for his day, according to TribLive.
