New Start and Dismissal Times for High Schools for 2022-2023 School Year

We look forward to welcoming all our students back to school for the 2022-2023 school year on August 25, 2022. Our staff has been working hard to get everything ready for students to have an amazing education experience.

New High School Bell Schedule

There has been a change to the start and dismissal times for our four comprehensive high schools (Kent-Meridian, Kentwood, Kentridge, Kentlake) and Kent Laboratory Academy. Beginning on August 25, 2022 – the first day of school – the school day begins at 7:30 a.m. and ends at 2:10 p.m.

This new schedule allows our buses to finish their high school routes and arrive at middle schools for pickup ahead of dismissal time. This avoids the arrival of buses and parents in school loading zones at the same time to pick up students. Additionally, because of the statewide bus driver shortage, some bus routes have been combined with slightly longer travel times. The new start and end times help reduce this issue. Lastly, this change helps alleviate issues with transporting student-athletes to competitions in the afternoon. This new schedule provides more capacity for our buses to support student-athlete transportation and avoid renting buses from external services.

Although we know this will cause a shift in planning for the start of the school year, we are confident this new schedule ensures a safer and well-rounded transportation experience for our students and staff. 

The bell schedule for our elementary and middle school students is not changing this year and can be viewed on our website.