District 95 has developed a delayed start plan to allow school to start late in the case of severe weather that does not require closing the school for a full day.

The new policy will give time for roads and school grounds to be cleared and safe in the events of hazardous weather. School will start two hours later than a regular day, to ensure that roads are safe to travel on.

Students who walk or drive are given an extra fifteen minutes to attend their first periods. Class periods will be reduced to accommodate the shortened schedule.

            Delayed start was initiated to eliminate snow days when weather conditions can be cleared up in time for school to start, according to Tony Pietro, Board of Education Member.

            “There’s no reason to miss school if you don’t have to. Delayed start will help eliminate days missed when students could have attended class,” Pietro said.  

            Families will be notified by District 95 automated phone calls and District 95 websites, if school will be starting late, closed for the duration of the day, or starting on an early release. Snow days are still possible in conditions of very severe weather. Two hours allows roads to be salted, cleared, and safe to travel, eliminating unsafe driving conditions, according to Pietro.

            “Keeping students in school to let them continue learning in a safe environment is our goal,” Pietro said.

            Classes will be 31 minutes long, accommodating the shortened schedule. The shortened schedule will be 13 minutes shorter than a regular schedule.

 Lack of time may cause a problem for some students taking tests or presenting projects, Jen Jakobi, senior, said.

            “It takes me a full period on a regular day to finish a test. I don’t want to be cut short of time on a test I would have on a regular school day,” Jakobi said.

            Shortened classes may affect different courses.

 Foods labs, which are designed for a 44 minutes, would have to be moved for a different day. Different assignments would be given on a delayed start day to accommodate the reduced time, Kim Burchill, family and consumer science teacher, said.

            “For a shortened class schedule, I would switch the class schedule to allow a good amount of time for students to finish their work. No other adjusts would be necessary,” Burchill said.

            Teachers are still able to teach on a reduced schedule and change plans in case of a delayed start, according to Burchill. Switching lessons plans from one day to another still allows students to have enough time in class and would still be learning the same criteria as planned.

Delayed start provides students with a day of learning. This will benefit students and faculty, by being able to attend school, and learn in a safe environment.