Hudson Valley Drivers Face New Traffic As School Starts

Every driver in the Hudson Valley should care that school is about to start up. This will likely impact your commutes in the region.

First days of school are all over the place this year, depending on where you live in the Hudson Valley, and they vary more than you'd think, even between towns that are 15 minutes apart.

When Does School Actually Start This Year?

group of people wearing white and orange backpacks walking on gray concrete pavement during daytime

School buses, crossing guards, and stopped traffic are about to become part of your morning commute again.

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Here's a few local confirmed starting dates for Here arestricts across the region.

Starting Wednesday, September 2

Monroe-Woodbury Central School District

Starting Thursday, September 3

• Middletown City School District

• Newburgh City School District

Google

These three get the earliest jump in the region, all kicking off the first few days after Labor Day weekend.

Starting Tuesday, September 8

• Poughkeepsie City School District

• Wappingers Central School District

• Arlington Central School District

• Beacon City School District

• Kingston City School District

That's five of the region's larger districts landing on the same day, the Tuesday after Labor Day, which falls on September 7 this year.

Staggered start dates mean stopped school buses are about to reappear on different roads on different mornings over the next two weeks, not all at once.

a stop sign attached to the side of a school bus

That's arguably more dangerous than everyone starting the same day, because drivers can't just mentally flip a switch on September 8 and assume they're in the clear. A road that was bus-free on the 2nd might suddenly have a stopped bus with flashing lights on the 8th.

Flashing yellow lights mean slow down and prepare to stop; flashing red lights and an extended stop arm mean stop completely regardless of which direction you're driving and passing a stopped bus can mean fines, license points, and increasingly, a stop-arm camera ticket in the mail weeks later.

Experts say its smart to budget an extra five minutes on your drive for the next two weeks. Different Hudson Valley towns are about to have buses back on the road on different days, and "I didn't know school started yet" isn't going to hold up next to a stopped bus with kids crossing in front of it.

Listing every school in the Hudson Valley would be a tough task. But this pattern confirms your local district lands somewhere between September 2 and September 8, so if your district isn't listed above, it's overwhelmingly likely to fall somewhere in that same window.

Check your district's official site for the exact day.

What About New York City?

Yellow nyc school bus with stop sign

If you've seen headlines about New York City schools starting late this year, that's a separate calendar with no bearing on Hudson Valley districts.

NYC doesn't start until Thursday, September 10, a full week later than usual, driven by a teachers' union contract clause.

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