SALEM - Reilly Elementary School students will have to set their clocks to arrive 10 minutes earlier this year, with the tardy bell sounding at 8:45 a.m. Monday through Friday.
The Reilly school schedule will be as follows:
- 8 a.m., supervision on the playground
- 8:35 a.m., bell to line up on the playground
-8:45 a.m., tardy bell
-11:30 a.m. to 12:15 p.m., third grade lunch
-12:15 to 1 p.m., fourth grade lunch
-3:10 p.m., dismissal of all walkers
-3:15 p.m., dismissal of all bus riders.
Principal Cindy Viscounte announced the change in the time schedule, saying the school will be on the same clock as Southeast Elementary to help with the transportation schedule and a safety issue.
She explained that last year they were getting a long line of buses to drop off or pick up students - a line they referred to as the wall. Students being picked up by parents were having to cross through the wall of buses to get to the parking lot.
To help increase safety and efficiency, she said they're going to have two waves of buses pick up and deliver the students, with half the buses at Southeast and half at Reilly instead of having all the buses at Reilly at once or all the buses at Southeast at once.
They're also going to release walking students five minutes earlier instead of having them leave at the same time as the bus riders, to further lessen the congestion.
"I really do think this will be a much safer option for everybody," Viscounte said.
Postcards to advise parents about the new time schedule will be mailed out the second week of this month, with the information also on the sign in front of the school and to be posted on the website.
School for students in grades 1 through 12 begins Aug. 27, with kindergarten students beginning Aug. 30.
Mary Ann Greier can be reached at mgreier@salemnews.net
