Guilford Needs To Make Call on Later School Start Times

GUILFORD, CT - If the school system is serious about going to later school start times to get high school students more rest, than a decision has to be made soon if it is going to be part of the 2018-19 budget considerations.

No town has spent more time studying the issue of school start times the past few years than Guilford. And nobody disputes that more sleep is a good idea. But the myriad of issues that changing school start times raise - from costs, to sport schedules, to parent daycare issues, etc. has blocked Guilford from moving forward in past years.

During one of the discussions on the issue, Board of Education Chairman William Bloss said: "This is the single most complicated issue that I have been involved with in my time on the Board of Education and I've been on it since 1999."

At a joint December meeting of the Operations Committee of the Board of Education and the Board of Finance, school board member Ted Sands said the later start time issue has been the issue the board has received the most input on this year.

A task force has been created to study the issue and Sands said the goal is to find a "cost neutral solution to changing the start times."

School Superintendent Dr. Paul Freeman said initial studies of changing start times at the high school "put the cost of this change at $500,000 to $700,000 due to transportation costs."

Another problem, Freeman pointed out, is that the school bus contract is already up for negotiation, meaning the district is already looking at a likely hike in costs before even factoring in the added costs of additional bus routes a change in schedules may create.

Freeman told Board of Finance members that Guilford has been discussing the later start time issue for five years. He said it is considered a health, wellness and anxiety and stress reduction issue that is recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics. He also explained how studies show that the importance of timing for sleep is important for children at the high school level due to their natural sleep patterns.

Freeman also noted that not all members of the community are in agreement with the later start time concept because of the number of issues it would cause for families.

Board of Finance member Jonathan Trotta said he viewed the issue of later school start times as "nice to have item," but he and other board members, and school board members frequently stated at the meeting their goal would be to come up with a cost neutral plan if they went forward with the initiative.