Plainfield School Board slightly adjusted its school start and finish times for 2011-12 school year from the times originally published as part of the new triple tier busing system.

Superintendent John Harper said the district was able to end elementary school five minutes earlier because the high school principals shaved a minute off of each of their six passing periods. Passing periods will be five minutes long instead of six.

"We were able to use the extra minutes at the end of the day to release our elementary school students a few minutes earlier than what we had originally planned," Harper said. "It is not a significant deviation from the original plan."

The board approved the new start times at its Monday night meeting.

In December when Harper originally unveiled his plan for a later start time for elementary school students, he said there would be a challenge in the winter when students walked home from bus stops around 4:15 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. - when the sky was getting darker.

Elementary schools will now start and end five minutes earlier from 9:05 a.m. to 3:40 p.m. except for Lakewood Falls.

Lakewood Falls will hold school from 8:55 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. due to its proximity to Creekside Elementary, which is about a half a block away. By staggering the times, it will help with traffic in that area, Harper said.

Middle school will start five minutes earlier at 7:55 a.m. and end six minutes earlier 2:55 p.m.

High school will still start at 7:05 a.m., but will end six minutes earlier at 2:10 p.m.

Plainfield Academy's first tier will be held from 7:45 a.m. to 1:15 p.m. and its second tier from 8:35 a.m. to 2:05 p.m. Turn-about program at Plainfield Academy will be held from 1:10 p.m. to 6:10 p.m.

Bonnie McBeth early childhood classes will be held from 8 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. to 3 p.m. Special need classes will be held from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

St. Mary's Immaculate School will be held from 8:30 a.m. to 3:15 p.m.

To save $598,298, the board approved a triple tier busing system that tightens transportation schedules and adjust school times. Bus drivers will handle three routes instead of two, eliminating the need for about 30 buses.

The biggest impact is on Plainfield South and Plainfield East high school students who will start school an hour and five minutes earlier than they do today. Students at Plainfield Central and Plainfield North would start 15 minutes earlier than now.

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