Stillwater Area Schools Start Times Will Change Next Fall

School start and ends times will be changing for schools across the district next fall.

Stillwater Area School Board members last night reviewed a draft of a new transportation schedule that would have secondary schools start five to 10 minutes earlier while moving all district elementary school start times (except Valley Crossing) to 8:40 or 8:45 a.m.

Start times for charter and non-public schools would also change slightly under the proposal. 

The board is expected to vote on a final schedule during the April 12 board meeting. View the proposed start/end times here.

School start and end times are being changed as part of the , and will result in transportation savings of nearly $300,000, according to the school district. The new schedule better utilizes buses by creating a three-tier transportation system, meaning each school bus is used as many as three times to deliver students to and from school.

Under the proposal, bus routes for the and two junior highs would run on the first tier.

The high school would be in session from 7:40 a.m. to 2:10 p.m. and the would run from 7:50 a.m. to 2:20 p.m.

All elementary school bus routes, except Valley Crossing, would run on a second tier and school would be in session from 8:40 a.m. to 3:10 p.m. at Afton-Lakeland, Andersen, Lake Elmo, ,  and .

Marine, and Withrow would all begin at 8:45 a.m. and end at 3:15 p.m.

Valley Crossing and non-public and charter schools would run on the third tier and begin between 9:15 and 9:35 a.m. and end between 3:45 and 4 p.m.

Based on feedback gathered from a , the school board rejected an earlier proposal to place Oak Park on the third tier with a starting time of 9:35 a.m.

This means families of alternate and GATE students will need to continue to provide their own transportation to school next year.