Students and parents weighed in on the proposed changes to the arrival and dismissal changes at the Beachwood City Schools Board meeting Monday.

The high school and middle school students may ride the bus together, and the high school start time could be a few minutes earlier.

But all these changes were part of a proposal, Superintendent Rich Markwardt stressed, and the district is still exploring its options.

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Beachwood High School teachers hold four 25-minute “academy periods” every week, when students can drop by to ask questions or talk, before or after school.

If the arrival time at Beachwood High School is made earlier, morning academy periods could be cancelled in lieu of afternoon sessions, said outgoing principal Bob Hardis.

Student Council Vice President Wesley Darvin said many students had asked him to tell the Board that they were concerned about losing the morning sessions, since many students attend practice and extracurricular meetings after school.

Karen Tindel has children at Beachwood High and Middle Schools. “I think it’s a wonderful service that you provide with before-school tutoring and I think it would be a shame to see it move to the afternoon where many students couldn’t use it,” she said.

At the July 9 meeting, senior Jon Sender spoke about the morning academy periods, as well. Read the minutes from that meeting in the PDF to the right.

But Hardis said that all the school’s sports and clubs are scheduled to start after the academy periods — at 3 p.m. — so that students can attend.

Markwardt said that he hopes to have a final schedule by Aug. 1. Watch Beachwood Patch for more information as it becomes available.

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