By Greg Grisolano
ggrisolano@joplinglobe.com
Cody Ellis acknowledged that he was a bit overwhelmed on the first day at his new school. He was not necessarily overwhelmed by the expectations of teachers, the crush of homework or the rush of trying to avoid being tardy.
The 14-year-old is in the eighth grade at East Middle School, which opened its doors to pupils for the first time Wednesday.
Cody was overwhelmed by the building itself.
“It’s big,” he said after attending a welcoming assembly Wednesday morning. “Just the bigness. It’s better than any other school I’ve been in, so far.”
Cody was among about 600 sixth-, seventh- and eighth-graders to attend the new school at 4594 E. 20th St., in Duquesne.
When classes began Wednesday at all 19 school buildings in the Joplin district, students, parents and teachers got their first taste of sweeping changes to district boundaries and staggered start times.
Schedule change
The district opted for staggered start times for the new school year. Elementary pupils begin classes at 7:45 a.m. and are dismissed at 2:45 p.m. At the middle schools and the high school, classes start at 8:30 a.m. and let out at 3:30 p.m.
Several parents at South Middle School said they favored the later start times for the middle schools and high school.
“It’s handier for me because I get off work at 3 p.m. I was always late picking my kid up,” said Kay Burdick. “So, this makes it more convenient.”
Others said they think the start times might be a problem in terms of younger children being dismissed before older siblings, who could have provided a watchful eye.
“With our work schedules, it’s too difficult to make it work,” said Mike Hicks. “We’ve got to hire a sitter to watch our 10-year-old while our older daughter is still in school. If anything, she should be let out first.”
When they made the decision earlier this year to adopt the change, school district officials cited research showing that younger children benefit from an earlier start time. Superintendent C.J. Huff said it’s unlikely that the school board would look at changing the times again in the near future.
“The research says that’s the best time for the elementary-school kids to learn, and the later start is best for the high-school kids,” he said. “The challenge is it doesn’t matter what time you schedule things, some people like it and some don’t. It just depends on the individual’s needs.”
Huff said the district’s first day was a relatively smooth one, considering the changes. He said some buses were delayed while dropping off middle-school and high-school students in the afternoon because some elementary children were shuttled back to school when no one was home to receive them.
“It’s really important to us that whenever we drop kids off in the evenings, we won’t let them off at the house if there’s nobody home, and we take them back to the school until a parent can be contacted,” Huff said. “And that caused us some problems today. It kept us behind a little bit.”
Kindergarten starts
Members of the class of 2022 got their first taste of academic life Wednesday. Some kindergarten pupils in a class at Columbia Elementary School said they enjoyed their day.
“I like playing with the toys, and I like the computers,” said Kattie Gordon. “I like everything.”
Kindergarten pupils around the district also had their picture taken with Huff, as part of the district’s commitment to graduation. The photos will be mailed to parents in a few weeks.
“It’s a very special day for the kindergartners and their parents, so we wanted to give them a special memento,” Huff said. “But we also wanted to send a message that graduation is important. We’ll encourage the parents to stay in touch with their teachers and be involved in their children’s education.”
