Why some Boston parents were against staggered school start times - Business Insider

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Boston schools wanted to stagger start times to save on transportation costs and improve student health. Here's why parents were against it — and what it can teach us about pandemic planning. (via KelloggInsight)

"These problems are extremely complicated," Martin said. "Finding the perfect solution is completely impossible, even with the best possible computers. But, still, by being clever, we can find very good solutions."The researchers' solution involved breaking from the prevailing system for setting bus routes. In many districts, Boston included, each school determines its optimal routes, and then those best options are combined into the district-wide plan.

"Even if you use more buses for one specific school, in the end your costs are actually much lower," he said. The idea of optimizing transportation costs by changing start times is not new. In fact, the reason so many districts, like Boston, have staggered start times in the first place is so that buses can do multiple routes each morning. But, over time, this led to two problems.

He doesn't think these inequalities are there on purpose. Changing a school start time significantly affects the lives of the families, so these changes don't happen often. And when they do, they stay that way for decades. Without an algorithm that can understand the complex ramifications of start times on transportation and equity, negative consequences can slowly build up over the years.

 

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