Barrington 220 board to answer public's start-time questions
Acknowledging the limits of its public comment policy, the Barrington Area Unit District 220 school board will host an informal community conversation about start times Tuesday to answer the community's questions and hear their ideas.
The board has received substantial feedback from parents about the proposal by the Input 220 committee in February. It called for classes at Barrington High School to start at 9 a.m. at the earliest. Classes currently start 7:20 a.m.
Much of that feedback has come during board meeting public comment. That's not intended to be a dialogue between the board and the public, but rather an opportunity for residents to voice their concerns within a three-minute time limit, officials said.
Those restrictions will be set aside during Tuesday's meeting, district spokeswoman Morgan Delack said.
"It has been more structured in the past, but (Tuesday) there will be a bunch of conversations going on," Delack said. "If you have an idea let us know what that is, and if you have a question, ask it."
Instead of walking up to a microphone in front of a large crowd, community members will get to speak one-on-one with members of the school board, Input 220 committee or district staff.
Delack said she doesn't know how many people to expect, but she hopes residents will attend.
"This is really the only opportunity to comment in this kind of fashion before the board gets really deep on their discussion of the start time change," she said.
Board members have set a Nov. 1 deadline to craft districtwide start times for the 2017-18 school year and beyond.
The board will begin its regular meeting at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, and the community conversation is expected to begin about 7:30 p.m. The meeting will be in the Guided Resource Center at Barrington High School, 616 W. Main St., Barrington.