ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – In less than two weeks, Albuquerque Public Schools (APS) is getting ready to welcome students back to the classroom, and parents will see big changes at campuses this year.
Some parents were frustrated and angry after last year, saying there wasn’t enough supervision of students arriving and leaving school. APS said that will change this school year.
“From what I heard, it was a big struggle. It was pretty important to make sure kids would be safe in school, before school, and after school,” said APS Superintendent Gabriella Blakey.
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APS will once again have teachers supervising students before and after school.
This after last year’s increase in instructional time left some schools without enough people to supervise students entering or leaving campus
“We were able to carve out an additional 15 minutes within that seven-hour contract to be able to meet the need the before and after school supervision,” said Chief of School Channell Segura.
Last year, APS had an $8 million fund to help pay teachers extra to come early or stay late to help with students. APS spent $4.2 million of that stipend.
That expense was not in the operational budget and wasn’t a sustainable option. So, school start times have changed to accommodate it.
“Almost all school bell schedule times have changed just because we have had to adjust times based on drop off and pick up by shortening it by 15 minutes,” said Segura.
The biggest change is for middle school students that will have an earlier start time; the district said that is based on an overwhelming demand from parents.
“We are working very closely with our out-of-school time department and partners’ communities to make sure we have before and after school programming at the schools that need it,” Segura said.
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The district hopes these schedules will be the same for quite a while.
“We are looking at approving a multiyear calendar and bell schedules, so there’s more of a consistency, “said Segura.
The first day of class for APS students will be August 7. Pre-K and kindergarten will start on August 9.
For kids who will be counting the clock until next summer, the last day of school for APS students will be May 29.