After an early morning accident at a Fulton County bus stop left three children dead back in October, some local school officials think a time zone change could improve student safety.
Coalition Continues to Push for Central Time in Indiana
A group continues in its efforts to put all of Indiana in the Central Time Zone, and with more than 25,000 signatures on their petition, the movement is gaining momentum. Sue Dillon, president of the Central Time Coalition, said previously that 42 school districts have expressed their support for the movement.
Indiana Central Time Coalition Pushes Resolution for “Right Time”
“We have a resolution currently introduced by Senator Delph that would call for petitioning DOT to consider changing Indiana’s time zone, because that’s where the time zone has to be changed. It’s the prerogative of the Department of Transportation,” Dillon said.
Organization Gaining Support To Switch Indiana to Central Time Zone
A spokesperson with the Central Time Coalition from Carmel, Indiana presented the Knox Community School Board with a resolution. Superintendent A.J. Gappa said the organization is gathering support from many school corporations to get the state on one time zone.
“And the reason for wanting Central Time is that they believe during the school year that it would be a safety issue,” explained Gappa. “The sun would come up later and rise at 7:15 a.m. every morning so you wouldn’t have kids standing out in the dark waiting for buses to come. It would be easier to schedule events when all of the schools and other community groups are on the same time zone.”
Central Time Zone Talk Stalls in Legislature
The latest push to move all of Indiana to the Central time zone has stalled after lawmakers decided not to vote on the measure, effectively killing the issue until next year.
The House Transportation Committee discussed a resolution this week that would have urged the federal government to hold hearings on switching the entire state from Eastern time to Central time. Members of the Central Time Coalition argued that moving the state to Central time would help businesses that deal with Chicago and the West Coast.
