Albuquerque Public Schools looking to change bell schedule for ’24-25 school year
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – In a letter to families Tuesday night, Albuquerque Public Schools announced changes in the bell schedule for the 2024-2025 school year.
Most high schools are seeing little to no change starting at 8:40 am and going until 3:25 pm or 3:40 pm. Most middle schools will start about an hour earlier 8:05 in the morning and end around 2:50 instead of 4:15 pm. Depending on the school, most elementary schoolers will start at either 7:30 to 9:15 in the morning and those starting later could be in school as late as 4:45 pm.
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Education: Albuquerque Public Schools looking to change bell schedule for ’24-25 school year
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While the schedules work for some families, a few parents of elementary students are voicing concerns like whether working parents will be able to drop off their students at 9:15 am. “A lot of people can’t afford childcare before and after school,” said Sean McMurray, an APS parent.
One other parent who has a student at Mary Ann Binford who didn’t want to go on camera said under the new schedule her daughter would’ve been in school until 4:45 pm, missing her extracurriculars that start at 4:30. But Wednesday night, she said the school reversed the move after community feedback sticking with the current schedule. Still, parents said they felt left out of the decision. “I don’t see the reason for not asking for input from the community and faculty,” said McMurray.
But the district said it did get input.
“The changes to next year’s bell schedule are mostly minor and are being instituted to address concerns we heard from our middle school families and duty time for teachers. Specifically, we received feedback from families who said the current 9:15 a.m.-4:15 p.m. school day often hindered after-school athletics and activities. Starting in August, most APS middle school students will begin class at 8:05 a.m. and be dismissed at 2:50 p.m.
We had previously announced that the instructional day would be shortened by 15 minutes at most schools. A shorter school day is necessary to address a problem we encountered during the current school year when teachers were beginning and ending their work days at the same time students were starting and ending class. That led to issues with before and after-school supervision of students. During the 2024-2025 school year, K-12 teachers will have 15 minutes built into their paid hours to cover morning or afternoon duties,” said an APS spokesperson.
Martin Salazar, APS Spokesperson
