When the 2024-2025 school year begins on Aug. 14, classes at Callaghan Elementary School and Sharon Elementary School will begin 30 minutes earlier than past years.
The change will make the start of the school day 8:10 a.m. at all AHPS elementary schools. Under the standard school day schedule approved by the school board on Monday, July, 15, classes at the four elementary schools will begin at 8:10 a.m., and end at 2:50 p.m.
At Alleghany High School and Clifton Middle School, the school day will begin at 8:25 a.m. and end at 3:40 p.m.
Information about bus routes for the coming school year will be provided to the community in a press release prior to the opening of school. AHPS customarily releases bus route information a couple of weeks before the school year begins.
The changes in schedules to the standard school day come after AHPS leaders discussed ways to improve transportation of students to and from school, and reduce the number of bus cancellations that have become more common due to ongoing driver shortages.
In the past school year, AHPS frequently dealt with altering bus routes or canceling them on some school days due to the shortage of drivers.
“This change will open up Sharon and Callaghan drivers to be able to perform second runs in their areas for middle school and high school students in the evening, instead of repeating them with different drivers,” said Christina Lemaster, a transportation leader for AHPS.
The problem of bus driver shortages isn’t unique to Alleghany Highlands Public Schools, according to data from the Virginia Department of Education. A 2023 survey found that 46 out of 95 counties and 38 independent cities had a shortage of three or more qualified drivers.
Other nearby divisions in Virginia have taken similar steps to address transportation issues. It’s becoming common to see school divisions change bell schedules to reduce the number of instances involving students being picked up and dropped off late.
Even though efforts by the AHPS transportation department such as juggling schedules and combining transportation routes eliminated some bus cancellations, the entire process proved to be stressful for AHPS staff and the community.
“We know minimizing bus cancellations is important to our community, and while we cannot guarantee these changes will eliminate all cancellations, we do believe these changes have a good chance of helping prevent some schedule disruptions,” said Kim Halterman and Melinda Snead-Johnson, leaders of AHPS.
The changes in school day schedules are also in response to an expansion of special education programs at Sharon and Callaghan elementary schools.
Sharon and Callaghan now offer programs that were once only available at Mountain View and Jeter-Watson elementary in past years.
AHPS has worked to expand the programs to include Sharon and Callaghan as a means of providing additional services to students closer to their homes as appropriate.
AHPS continues to accept applications for bus and car drivers. AHPS provides free training for drivers.
Interested applicants can call the AHPS central office at (540) 863-1800 or the AHPS bus garage at (540) 965-1809.
Assistance in completing an application is available upon request. An online application is available at www.ahps.k12.va.us.
With approximately 2,700 students, AHPS was created when Alleghany County Public Schools, Covington City Public Schools, and Jackson River Technical Center merged in July 2022.
The school division is jointly funded by Alleghany County and the City of Covington.
AHPS news and events are regularly updated on Facebook at AHPublicSchools and Instagram at ahpublicschools. Information is also available at www.ahps.k12.va.us.