Andover Will Hold Second Forum On School Start Time Changes

ANDOVER, MA — Andover is one of several school districts considering an overhaul of the school day schedule that would have older students start later. As part of the process, the district has scheduled forums to collect community input. The second forum is on Tuesday, June 11 from 7- 8:15 p.m. at West Middle School.

Members of the School Start Time Working Group, which will make a recommendation to the school committee in the fall, will be on hand to answer questions and listen to feedback. The first forum was held in May.

The evaluation comes as a growing body of research shows that teenagers get only 6 to 6.5 hours of sleep per night when experts recommend eight to 10 hours per night for adolescents. Proposals like the one Andover is considering come as researchers increasingly find that shifts in sleep patterns during adolescence make it harder for teens to fall asleep as early as adults and younger children.

But such changes present obstacles. They can impact sports and after school programs, and they place a burdern on families that rely on older kids to care for younger siblings after school.

Still, later school start times for high school and middle school students have been shown to increase academic performance. The National Sleep Foundation also notes a link between early high school start times and higher rates of emotional and behavioral problems such as irritability, depression, substance abuse issues, poor impulse control and violence.

Dave Copeland can be reached at dave.copeland@patch.com or by calling 617-433-7851. Follow him on Twitter (@CopeWrites) and Facebook (/copewrites).