HARRISONBURG. Va. (ROCKTOWN NOW) — The Harrisonburg City School Board heard an update during Tuesday night’s work session from the ongoing discussion around changing the city’s school start times.

Superintendent Dr. Michael Richards told the board that he has spent the last few weeks meeting with HCPS’s partnered child care providers. Lack of access to after-school childcare was cited as a reason by parents who were against changing the start times, leading the board to vote down the original proposal in March.

Richards said that while he’s considering those childcare providers needs – as well as those of the school divisions other partnered organizations – he may need to request more time to come up with an alternate proposal for start times. Ultimately, he said the childcare predicament is an issue that goes beyond Harrisonburg’s schools.

“We’re not going to be able to solve the city’s problems with our core partners,” Richards said. “We can provide models and support, but we can’t solve that problem on our own.”

Board member Deb Fitzgerald asked Richards if there would be an opportunity/cost imbalance from addressing the childcare piece head on, which he agreed was a valid concern. While childcare was one half of the problem in changing the schools start times, the lack of transportation for students before and after school matches up the rest of the dilemma.

”I would feel more comfortable if you put this time and energy towards the transportation piece,” Fitzgerald said.

Richards said that addressing the transportation issue was more within the realm of control for the school division, and that he felt more optimistic about addressing that side of the issue than he did about the childcare piece. According to Richards, HCPS staff has stepped up recruitment efforts for school bus drivers in the city, and that five drivers had recently been hired.

School Board Chair Andy Kohen suggested contributing the discussion, possibly as an agenda item, at the next school board meeting.