BATON ROUGE — East Baton Rouge Parish Schools Superintendent LaMont Cole has proposed new start and dismissal times for six schools across the district.

Melrose Elementary, Capitol Elementary, Capitol High, Glen Oaks Park Elementary, Glen Oaks High and Merrydale Elementary schools would all be affected under the proposal, which was outlined in a memorandum from Cole dated May 22.

The elementary schools would start earlier at 8 a.m., and the secondary schools would start at a later 8:50 a.m. Elementary schools now start at 8:15 a.m., and secondary schools currently start at 7:10 a.m.

Elementary schools would also now dismiss earlier, sending students home at 3:15 p.m. Secondary schools would dismiss at 4:05 p.m., nearly an hour after the current 3:15 p.m. dismissal time.

The proposal has been made to decrease the number of students waiting at the bus stop in the early, dark hours.

Louisiana is currently one of only four states that start secondary schools before 7:45 a.m. Louisiana students start, on average, the earliest in the country.

According to the school board's agenda for its Thursday meeting, they will discuss the proposal following a budget meeting.