RADFORD – Students of all grade levels will continue to ride the same buses together this year, the school division has announced.
“RCPS explored separating age groups for the 2022-2023 school year, but due to an increase in
ridership in the last couple of years and having building tardy bells being within a few minutes of
each other, the division has found that separating ages would present other challenges,” according to an announcement by Radford City Public Schools. “The division considers many factors when creating bus routes including ridership loads, student supervision, early morning pick up times (before 6:30 a.m.), late after school drop off times (after 4:20 p.m.), after school extra curricular activities and after school athletic practices and events.”
“After considering these factors and others, RCPS has decided that it will continue to mix
elementary, middle and high school bus riders during both morning pick up and afternoon drop
Off,” the announcement continued. “This will help cut down on multiple trips to the same area of the city creating routes that are more efficient. It also allows for later morning pick-ups and earlier afternoon drop-offs.”
Bus routes can be found on-line at www.rcps.org, as well as a list of bus ridership rules.
The start of the 2022-23 school year was delayed by two weeks for all Radford City Public School students but is set to begin Friday, Aug. 26, for pre-kindergarten, first grade and ninth grade and on Monday, Aug. 29, for kindergarten and grades two through 12. Open House is now scheduled for Wednesday, Aug. 24, from 4 to 7 p.m. for all students at each school.
The start/end times for RCPS schools are as follows:
McHarg Elementary (PreK-2nd): Tardy Bell 7:50 a.m. Dismissal 2:20 p.m. (Doors open at 7:20 a.m.)
Belle Heth Elementary (Third through Sixth grades): Tardy Bell 7:50 a.m. Dismissal 2:20 p.m. (Doors open at 7:20 a.m.)
Dalton Intermediate (Seventh and Eighth grades): Tardy Bell 8 a.m. M,T,F/9 a.m. W,Th Dismissal 3 p.m. (Doors open at 7:30 a.m. M,T,F/8 a.m. W,Th)
Radford High School (Ninth through Twelfth grades): Tardy Bell 8 a.m. M,T,F/9 a.m. W,Th Dismissal 3 p.m. (Doors open at 7:30 a.m. M,T,F/8 a.m. W,Th).