CHAMPAIGN — Two elementary schools could have new starting and dismissal times next year.

The Champaign school district is looking at changing the bell schedules for South Side and Stratton elementary schools, to alleviate some transportation problems.

The two schools share some of the same buses and drivers to pick up students and bring them to school, said Maria Alanis, who now oversees the district's school calendar, among other duties at the central office.

Stratton's daily schedule was adjusted this year, leaving just a half hour between the start time for that school (at 8 a.m.) and for South Side (at 8:30 a.m.), Alanis said. Because of the overlap in use of buses, there were times when some South Side students arrived at school late, she said.

"In order to transport the kids back and forth to both of these schools within the constraints of the number of buses we have and the number of drivers we have, we need to look at changing the bell times," Alanis said. "We struggled with that this year, and hopefully by changing the start times for both of the schools, we will have about an hour between them."

The district has proposed having one of the elementary schools start at 7:45 a.m. and one at 8:45 a.m. No decision has been made yet, and the principals of both schools are seeking input from parents about changing the start time.

The school that starts at 7:45 a.m. will dismiss at 2 p.m., and the school that starts at 8:45 a.m. will dismiss at 3 p.m.