Steven Gutierrez, Tomball ISD's chief operating officer, proposed staggering school start times in four tiers during a workshop presentation to the TISD board of trustees March 7. These adjusted start times are anticipated to enable students to arrive and leave school on time while accounting for the ongoing bus driver shortage TISD has been facing, Gutierrez said during the presentation.

A 30-member school start time committee did research, received parental feedback and worked with the transportation department before settling on a draft four-tier bell schedule to present to the board, Gutierrez said.

Gutierrez said this tiered plan works with the amount of drivers the district is currently able to employ. The district has continually been short 25 drivers, he said, which has contributed to lengthy bus routes, crowded buses, long ride times for students, and late drop-offs and pickups for students.

“When you think about cost-savings and efficiency, first and foremost, our students get a better experience [with this plan], and we can do it with 25 drivers fewer,” Gutierrez said.

Lauren Thompson, TISD's Timber Creek Elementary School principal, said elementary campuses have felt the bus driver shortage, because buses have to finish their secondary level routes first. This means any delays that occur with secondary bus routes then affect the elementary bus routes.

For example, Thompson said an existing dismissal at 3:50 p.m. means buses may not arrive on campus until 4:30 p.m., which makes for a long day for the elementary students. In addition, many students are arriving late in the mornings because of the same issue, therefore affecting start time and instructional time for students.

“The hope is that this tier system will be able to alleviate that,” Thompson said during the meeting.

Under the draft plan, elementary schools are split into two tiers with a start time difference of 15 minutes to help ensure students are being dropped off and picked up on time following secondary routes, district officials said.

Kim McKinney, TISD's Grand Lakes Junior High School principal, said during the meeting the four different tiers also allow the district to avoid busing intermediate students with junior high and high schoolers, which has been an ongoing safety concern for families in the district.

“This has been a huge thing; we’ve heard it for years. From a safety perspective, there’s a huge gap in age there, and so this fixes that issue as well,” McKinney said.

The draft tiered schedule is outlined below.

Tier one

Includes: Tomball Star Academy, junior high schools (excluding Creekside Park Junior High School), high schools

  • Tomball Star Academy: 7:15 a.m.-2:20 p.m.; Grand Lakes, Tomball and Willow Wood junior high schools: 7:20 a.m.-2:30 p.m.
  • Tomball and Tomball Memorial high schools: 7:20 a.m.-2:35 p.m.
  • Bus drop-off at 6:45 a.m.
Tier two

Includes: Intermediate schools and Creekside Park Junior High School
  • Tomball, Northpointe and Oakcrest intermediate schools and Creekside Park Junior High School: 8 a.m.-3:10 p.m.
  • Bus drop off at 7:30 a.m.
Tier three
Includes: Elementary schools
  • Creekside Forest, Canyon Pointe, Decker Prairie, Lakewood, Rosehill, Timber Creek and Tomball elementary schools: 8:40 a.m.-3:50 p.m.
  • Bus drop off at 8:10 a.m.
Tier four

Includes: Elementary schools
  • Creekview, Grand Oaks, Willow Creek and Wildwood elementary schools: 8:55 a.m.-4:05 p.m.
  • Bus drop off at 8:25 a.m.
During the workshop meeting, Trustee Michael Pratt asked if pushing start times later in the morning had been considered, instead of an early start. Superintendent Martha Salazar-Zamora said the concern with starting later is many older students work after school or are involved in school activities that often must be held at similar times as other competing districts. This means if students start their school day later, they also end it later, she said.

“We believe for many reasons, and I personally believe, that this is the best way moving forward. It is a slight adjustment. I don’t think it’s a huge ask for any of our campuses,” Salazar-Zamora said during the meeting.

TISD trustees did not take action on the tiered schedule March 7, as the presentation was given during a workshop meeting.