A Park City School District proposal to adjust Friday release times for the middle and elementary schools has stalled after mixed survey results from families.
Superintendent Lyndsay Huntsman said as proposed, the school day would have ended 20 minutes earlier for the four elementaries and 35 minutes earlier for Ecker Hill Middle School students.
“The survey gave us a nuanced picture. This isn't a situation where the community is clearly voting in one direction,” she said on KPCW’s “Local News Hour” June 18.
The results prompted the Board of Education to delay a decision on the proposal at its meeting June 16. It was first considered in May.
Nearly 850 parents and guardians responded to the survey, including 450 from Ecker. Over 60% of Ecker families said they support earlier release times on Fridays.
But parents with kids in elementary schools were split, with 35% in support, 38% opposed and 27% neutral.
Huntsman said the change was proposed in part to help bus drivers. They need 40 minutes between elementary, middle and high school end times to get to each school.
The change would also give teachers more preparation time.
“One of the things that emerged as we did a listening tour at each school site this year was our staff needs more time, and this was a way to give them more time, especially on Friday, since that was a structure that already existed,” Huntsman said.
While many respondents support more teacher planning time, most were also concerned about taking away instructional time.
Parents also wanted evidence prep time would be used effectively and dual-income families said pushing elementary start times earlier would make child care difficult.
Huntsman said a decision on changing Friday release times will be delayed until later in the year, after more community feedback. If a change is approved, it wouldn’t go into effect until the 2027-2028 school year.
