Seven-year-old Jonathan Guffey raised his hand and held it up, patiently waiting to be called on.

The soon-to-be second grader at Polaris Elementary School on Park Avenue wanted to ask officers a question Thursday during the monthly Community Advisory Group at Denver Police Department District 6 downtown.

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“How do you keep me and my brother safe when DPS took away our buses,” Guffey asked.

Guffey and an older brother have already had a near miss with a car, said his mother, Jennifer Knowles.

A number of parents and at least four school-aged children, including Guffey, were among the 50 people who attended the event to discuss safety, crime and the effort downtown to address the city’s growing homeless problem.

Of the more than 200 schools in the district, six campuses – including Polaris Elementary – are expected to see their busing services reduced or cut when Denver Public Schools implements new start times this school year to foster better academic outcomes.

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Police officials appeared caught off guard, telling parents they had only recently been informed about the changes.

“The kids are always our priority,” Division Chief Aaron Sanchez said.

It’s unclear when DPS notified Denver Police of the modifications to school starts.

Parents, however, have been bracing for the change since the board of education adopted its Healthy Start Times for the 2023-2024 school year two years ago.

Morey Middle School parents estimate more than 200 families will be forced to drop off and pick up their children within a 30-minute window, potentially wreaking havoc on the streets that hem in the campus.

Morey is one of the six campuses facing busing changes.

The campus has a highly gifted and talented magnet program that offers “differentiated instruction and opportunities” to students. Less than half of the student population is minority.

Built in 1921, Morey Middle is the district’s oldest middle school.

It shows.

Street-only parking is limited, and there are no marked school zones with flashing lights alerting drivers and no crosswalks.

“During pickup, it’s a nightmare,” said Lynne Ly, whose daughter attends Morey.

And that’s before the schedule change.

To address some of these concerns, the district is providing Morey with funds to support two crossing guards, said Scott Pribble, a district spokesperson.

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Adopted in 2021 and citing a survey by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showing 78% of high school students get fewer than eight hours of sleep on school nights, the resolution calls for middle and high schools to start no earlier than 8:30 a.m.

The American Academy of Pediatrics is one of several respected health organizations that recommend a later start time, citing research that shows optimal levels of sleep in adolescents is linked to improved health, higher academic performance and greater quality of life.

But because not every middle or high school is on an identical start, altering district bus schedules wasn’t as simple as adjusting all campuses by the same time.

And a chronic driver shortage has also posed busing challenges.

“Additionally, DPS, just like many other schools across the country, continues to face a bus driver shortage,” Pribble said in an email to The Denver Gazette. “While we anticipate having more drivers than the 2022-23 school year, we are not at capacity.

DPS has 177 bus drivers. To be fully staffed, the district needs an additional 40 drivers.

Despite a starting wage of $24.40 an hour for bus drivers, the challenge remains hiring and retaining part-time staff.

DPS maintains its route optimizations – based on the number of students who qualify for free and reduced meals – was done in a way to maintain “as much of the current system as possible.”

“I know when optimizations have to be made in any system it is difficult on the community that depends on the services,” Albert Samora, executive director of transportation, wrote a parent in a July 12 email. “We don’t take these changes lightly.”

DPS Board Vice President Auon’tai M. Anderson, who attended Thursday’s meeting, said it may be time to consider hiring full-time bus drivers.

He also said a pause on the new start times may be warranted.

“There’s a lot of unintended consequences that we need to fully evaluate before it moves into implementation,” Anderson said.

Those unintended consequences, Anderson suggested, could include an unfair burden on parents as well as some children coming home in the dark when not on Daylight Saving Time.

According to the National Institutes of Health, the circadian rhythm helps to regulate the sleep-wake cycle on a roughly 24-hour cycle that takes its clues from the day’s light-dark rhythm.