Bell Time Public Consultation

The bell times at some schools may change for the 2022-23 school year. A public consultation on changing bell times is now underway and we would like to hear from families who may be affected by the proposed changes. To find out if the bell times at your school are proposed to be changed, please review this list.

Durham Student Transportation Services looks after home to school transportation for Durham District School Board and Durham Catholic District School Board. Bell times and bussing schedules are a complex, interconnected system. A small change to the bell time of one school can have a ripple effect on the bell times of multiple other schools, increased ride times, or bus availability for other students.  

In Durham Region and across Ontario, there is a shortage of school bus drivers. To ensure consistent transportation service is maintained for eligible students, some changes are being proposed to 2022-2023 school year bell times. 24 schools are proposed to change by more than 10 minutes and 14 schools by 10 minutes or less. Any elementary changes are based on 2020-21 bell times and secondary changes are based on 2019-20 bell times. The proposed bell times also move away from the current 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. schedule for secondary schools.

For more information on the review, including a list of schools with a proposed bell time changes, how to register for a virtual public open house and ways to get involved in the consultation process, please visit ddsb.ca/bell-times.

Families at schools where bell times are changing are encouraged to attend one of our public virtual open house sessions on February 15^th or February 16th at 7:00 p.m.

If the bell times at your school are changing by more than 10 minutes, please share your feedback through this ThoughtExchange.

All families also have the option to complete a bell time changes survey by clicking here. Feedback is being accepted until February 25, 2022. Students are also encouraged to complete the survey.

A final report and feedback received will be shared with DDSB Board of Trustees in March 2022 before a final decision is made on changing bell times for the 2022-23 school year.

We look forward to hearing from you throughout this consultation process.