ROANOKE, Va. – Back in February, Roanoke City Public Schools asked for the community’s input for transportation adjustments and procedures for cell phone usage, now those results are in.
The two-week survey had over 36 hundred responses ranging from parents to students, to Roanoke City Public School staff members.
850-1,000 students have been late nearly every day for the last two years.
Now, Roanoke City Public Schools are gathering the communities’ responses and have put together recommendations.
Those recommendations boil down to, adjusting start and end times for some schools, geographically realigning elementary schools, changes for afterschool care and special programs, and enforcing walking zones.
The start time recommendation for schools could start as early as 7 a.m. for elementary schools and as late as 9:30 a.m. for middle schools. Survey results show that 58.4% strongly agree or agree adjusting start and end times would be reasonable.
Another consideration is to enforce walking zones which are not enforced at this time. Students who live up to 0.6 miles away from their school must walk to school depending on circumstances.
The school board is also sharing results on the cell phone survey hitting on when students should have access to their phones. Staff predominantly chose no phones at 47% or only allowed during class changes and lunch at 30%. Parents and guardians chose all day but put away during instruction at 42%. And 21% of students chose all day with no restrictions, compared to 2.7% of parents and guardians and less than 1% of staff.
Those cellphone considerations are still in the works, but Roanoke City will hold its next board meeting on May 14.