Despite hiring a new company to operate buses, Roanoke City Public Schools says more changes are needed to prevent hundreds of students from arriving late to class each day.

A split school board voted Tuesday to change next year’s school start times — pushing up the start of some elementary schools and pushing back middle and high school bells — to give more wiggle room for bus drivers to get kids to class on time.

“We can’t vote ‘yes’ to a thousand students being late. We can’t do that. We have to do something,” Vice Chair Joyce Watkins said.