Hempfield Area School Board votes to shift start, dismissal times

HEMPFIELD, Pa. — Start times are changing in one local school district.

The Hempfield Area School Board on Monday night approved a shift in arrival and dismissal times for its students.

The district is trying to consolidate transportation as it faces a bus driver shortage.

Here’s the breakdown of the new start times:

• High schoolers start about 10 minutes later at 7:30 a.m.
• Middle schoolers start an hour earlier, also at 7:30 a.m.
• Elementary school students start 30 minutes earlier, at 8:30 a.m.

Some parents opposed the change, saying the new time would mean their kids would need to be up before 6 a.m.

“Kids that age, they need more sleep. There’s multiple studies done showing preteens and teenagers need more sleep. We have little children getting home after 5 o’clock, many of them are in extracurriculars, and there’s no way in the world for them to get where they need to go,” a parent said.

Lauren Pritts lives in the Hempfield Area School District. Her daughter will be starting kindergarten next year when the elementary school start time will be 15 minutes earlier than this year’s time.

“I’m okay with it just because she already goes to preschool, how early and has to wake up, so she already has to wake up,” she told Channel 11’s Andrew Havranek. “So it kind of sticks to our routine and especially for working as well, getting her on and off the bus.”

She said she thinks the middle school having to start an hour earlier might be a lot, but understands the district’s need to address the bus driver shortage.

“There’s pros and cons to everything,” Pritts said.

Dr. Gary Swanson at Allegheny Health Network said one of those ‘cons’ is that starting the day earlier is harder on children, especially the closer they are to high school.

“The idea has been since they need more sleep, having the high school kids get up early is probably actually somewhat problematic for them,” Swanson said. “They’re more tired during the day, it takes a longer time to get going.”

But, he understands that school districts have a lot to consider, including important extracurricular activities, and students getting home too late.

Hempfield Area Superintendent Dr. Mark Holtzman said because of a bus driver shortage, some kids get home at 5 p.m.

“That’s always the hardest part, making all of those pieces fit together,” Swanson said.

The new start times aren’t all that different from other schools in the area.

Greensburg Salem’s middle and high schools both start at 7:30 a.m., the same time as Hempfield will start next year.

Norwin’s middle school starts at 7:50 a.m., and high school starts at 7:20 a.m.

“If this works, great, keep it up. If there’s something that’s not quite working for folks, get the feedback and adjust to that,” Swanson said.

The changes will be in effect for the 2025-2026 academic year.

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