Woodland students will have to adjust their morning routine in preparation for the school’s earlier start time beginning the 2022-23 school year as voted on by the Board of Education.

Changing the time that Woodland starts has been a topic of discussion for over a year, but the decision was finalized on December 15, 2021 at the Board of Education meeting. Woodland’s new day will start at 7:20 and end at 1:50.

Jr. Board of Education Representative, Charli Hughes noted, “The whole board unanimously decided to change the start time.”

This decision was made primarily to help the problems regarding bussing between the different Region 16 schools. A shortage of bus drivers combined with the large number of students who take the bus created a large time gap between when school ended for Long River students and when they got on the bus.

“There have been a lot of issues with the middle schoolers waiting outside for buses for up to 45 minutes after school,” said Hughes. “The idea is that the timing gap will become smaller and they will be getting home on time.”

There was some discussion about making the change after spring break instead of next year; however, it was decided that it would be too soon according to Principal Kurt Ogren.

“We looked at it for two reasons: it would’ve been inconvenient for some employees because of childcare,” said Principal Kurt Ogren. “And we also heard from students and parents that wanted it next year.”

Even though school will start and end earlier, there won’t be too many changes for Woodland’s students. Classes will still be ninety minutes long, and most extracurricular activities will be at the same time as they are now.

“The day will essentially just be moved up by 15 minutes, so we’ll get out a bit earlier and classes will be at different times,” said Hughes. “But other than that, I don’t anticipate many big changes.”