The Hood River County School District board approved staggering start times for elementary and secondary schools next year.  Beginning with the 2014-15 academic year all elementary schools will start at 7:40 a.m. and wrap up at 2:10 p.m., middle schools will run from 8:45 to 3:45, and Hood River Valley High School from 8:40 to 3:30.  The move originated as a way to streamline bus routes and reduce transportation expenses, but Superintendent Dan Goldman points out studies show the sleep cycles of adolescents lend themselves to better learning with a later school day.  The new start times will reduce the number of buses on the road each day from 27 to 20 which should result in a drop in repair and operating expenses, allow the Transportation Department to take out of service four of its oldest and most expensive to run buses, and drop the planned number of bus purchases each year from two to one.