In the past month, Westerville City School (WCS) district students, administrators, staff, and parents have dealt with the last-minute surprises of early releases. But why have these early releases been recurring?

   WCS district Superintendent, Dr. John Kellogg has been head of solving the bus issue here in Westerville.    

   “Right now we are experiencing a labor shortage,” Kellogg said.

   According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics in Nov.2021, 6.9 million Americans are unemployed.

   This has affected not only the WCS district but surrounding communities. Kellogg has noticed how neighboring districts have taken similar actions to those of the WCS board.

   Westerville North High School (WNHS) teacher, Leslie Baumann, teaches English II, English II, and Advanced Placement (AP) Literature and Composition. The labor shortage has affected her class and students greatly.

   “Each day I have to rush through the material so we don’t really get into as much depth or there are things we just straight up have to cut,” Baumann said. 

   This continuous shortening of instructional time may affect students who plan to take AP tests. While Baumann has some worries, she reassured that teachers are doing everything in their power to ensure students will be prepared to the best of their abilities. 

   Kristen Patton, North math teacher, expressed similar worries but knows students will be better prepared than last year’s AP test scores which were heavily affected by COVID-19 restrictions. Although she believes this will have little to no influence on AP test scores, Patton worries about those who participate in Delaware Area Career Center (DACC) classes.

   “[DACC students] either miss half of their math class or they’ve been missing their entire math class,” she said, “ Students are told to come from classes at the career center, eat lunch during seven-eight and then skip straight to their ninth-period class.” 

   Students are missing a core class daily due to factors completely out of their control. While solutions to the issue are being put together, no plan has been put in place to help these students. 

    Kellogg confirmed that there are no plans to return to last year’s 1:25 pm release bell schedule.

   “Absolutely not. The board is currently exploring other solutions that would be more effective,” Kellogg said. 

   “We run a three-tier system; elementary, middle, high school. One of the things we are considering is taking the middle schools and elementary schools and splitting them into two blocks. Staggering their start,” Kellogg said. 

   Those in the WCS district affected by these early releases should expect changes following the 2021 winter break.