District 150 Superintendent Sharon Kherat said there is a compromise on the 2021-22 three-tier bus schedule.
Kherat said next school year, Peoria Public Schools will include an additional sixth hour of classroom instruction to address childcare concerns and driver shortages.
"This model, the older students are released before the younger students to allow for childcare," she said. "And so also, teachers are not working past 4, which was a slight concern during our previous discussion. So I think it's a very good compromise."
The new times are 7:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. for older students in tier one, 8:20 a.m. to 2:50 p.m. for the second tier and 9:10 a.m. to 3:40 p.m. for the third tier.
Board members Anni Reinking and Dan Walther questioned the change with concerns about morning commutes for working families.
After a lengthy back and forth, school board President Doug Shaw said the matter is not an action item for the board and that there already is a consensus.
Quest seeks charter extension
Quest Charter Academy gave a detailed report to the school board Monday night on its past year as it seeks to extend its current two-year contract by another two years, ending with the 2023-24 fiscal term.
Quest board president Glenn Ross said the pandemic has disrupted student performance as the charter academy is facing a reauthorization evaluation later this year.
"As currently scheduled, Quest would be evaluated based principally on results produced during the COVID year," Ross said.
Walther motioned to remove the extension from the consent agenda, saying COVID-19 is not a good enough reason to extend the contract.
"A year from now, when it is up, that is when we should vote on it," Walther said. "I cannot support at all giving them this two-year extension. I think the excuse is specious. To say that COVID was the problem. We all went through the COVID."
The final roll call kept Quest’s extension on the consent agenda with a 4-3 vote. Board members Anna Reinking and Chase Klaus were the other two "no" votes.
