VISTA -- The bell schedule at Vista Unified School District schools this fall will stay the same as last year, the school board decided Thursday after parents complained that proposed times were far too early for middle school students.

The trustees decided unanimously to keep the start times that have been in place for the last couple years, which drew cheers from dozens of parents who were pushing to keep the schedule the same.

"I cannot even begin to express the frustration and nightmares that we've had to go through because of the crazy schedule changes (in the past)," said Yvonne Brunet, one of the parents.

Elementary schools will start at either 7:50 or 8:25 a.m., middle schools at 8:55 a.m. and high schools at 7:30 a.m.

Trustee David Hubbard apologized Thursday for the confusion.

"This kind of confusion, I know, makes you crazy," he said. "The district gets so busy trying to spin all of the plates we have to spin … that we forget when we make changes like this, particularly at the end of a school year, we affect the lives of families."

District officials had recommended starting middle school earlier now that the district has done away with optional classes that started an hour before school. The classes were cut a couple of months ago as the district reduced spending in this year's budget.

Parents at the meeting said they were frustrated that they didn't know when school was going to start until a month before the first day.

"Why weren't we talking about this four or five months ago," Robine Lewis, a parent, asked the trustees.

District officials started talking about bell schedules in January, but got sidetracked when more state budget cuts hit, said Donna Caperton, chief business officer for the district.

Normally, decisions about school schedules are made by district administrators and not by the school board.

Before the vote, board Vice President Steve Lilly said that he was uncomfortable taking on the additional task and wanted to make sure it didn't happen again.

Last week, the district put a survey on its Web site, asking parents which of four schedules they prefer. Nearly half of the 1,252 people who filled out the questionnaire voted to leave the start times alone.

Transportation difficulties prevent the district from starting all schools at the same time.

Bell schedules last changed two years ago, when district officials switched the middle and elementary school start times to accommodate early morning elective classes at the middle schools. Before 2006, the middle schools started at 7:30 a.m., and the elementary schools about an hour later.

At that time, few parents complained about the earlier start times for elementary schools, but many parents of middle-schoolers said they preferred the earlier start times.

Also at the meeting, parents and students asked district officials to reconsider their plan to move Principal David Lacey from Foothill Oak Elementary School to Bobier Elementary School.

Students held up signs reading "Please, don't move and take Mr. Lacey" and "Mr. Lacey should not leave."

"Mr. Lacey is a great principal and a great human being," said one of the students said. "If you take Mr. Lacey away from Foothill Oak, you're not just affecting one student, you're affecting a whole school."

Lacey opened Foothill Oak nearly four years ago after teaching at Bobier for a decade. The board approved the transfer last month.

Parents there collected 350 signatures on a petition asking the district to keep him at Foothill Oak, they said.

Superintendent Joyce Bales said district leaders asked Lacey to make the switch because they're hoping to raise test scores at Bobier to pull the school out of No Child Left Behind Act's federal sanctions.

The trustees said they may reconsider the decision.

"We do need to mull this over a little bit more," Hubbard said.