School Committee Chair: 'I Do Not See' 6:30 Pickups Happening

ANDOVER, MA — The Andover School Committee will hear the results of a start times transportation study, as well as potentially delaying their decision on the issue, at their Nov. 5 meeting, Chairman Joel Blumstein said at the Oct. 24 meeting. While the committee has not deliberated on the issue at all, Blumstein said he regretted putting out the "no-cost" options on their own. With the completion of the transportation study, the committee hopes to have less extreme options that will allow for adolescents to start later without having any elementary school students getting picked up as early, or dropped off as late, as in the no-cost options.

Assistant Superintendent Sandra Trach also presented research on the effects of early start times on elementary school-aged kids. She noted that the research on younger children is limited, but said, "Later school start times are beneficial for all students of all ages."

"Some findings have shown that earlier school start times for some students can be associated with poor academic performance in elementary schools," Trach said.

In previous meetings and in their online materials, the committee has focused on the research related to adolescents, which is much more developed. Public health groups say that adolescents should not start school before 8:30 a.m. The two no-cost changes proposed by the committee delay start times for adolescents by either switching elementary and middle/high school start times or by shifting all start times significantly later.

The no-cost options provoked a significant backlash from parents of elementary school-aged children, including a petition with hundreds of signatures and a packed start times forum. Parents worried that younger kids were not being taken enough into account and asked the committee to not change their start times and to delay making a decision.

The committee has not deliberated on any of the options, Blumstein said ahead of discussion of the subject at Thursday's meeting. But he said the committee "needs to take very seriously" the idea of delaying the decision from a tentative Nov. 21 vote.

"I'm very optimistic that nobody's going to get picked up at 6:30 or dropped off at 5," said Blumstein. "I'm very hopeful that [with] the information that comes out of the [transportation study] ... we can do much better."

Public commenters continued to urge the committee to delay their vote, but several said their concerns were at least in part satisfied, with regards to research on elementary school students.

"Please delay your vote," said parent Andrew Adams. "We're really concerned about our children and we want to make sure we're not going to implement anything that's damaging to their development."

Residents also expressed concerns about how shifting start times would affect after-school programming. Linda Shottes Bouchard, executive director of the Shed's Children Campus, said she was concerned about how the shift proposal would affect her after school programs, and asked for a delay. Julie Zavrl, owner of the TinyTunes music school, said the flip option would force her out of Andover.

"I really hope we can think about these after school programs because i'm not the only one who would close my doors," Zavrl said.

One mother of an autistic boy also worried about how changing start times would affect the access to highly-in-demand Applied Behavioral Analysis therapy for children like hers.

A couple of residents also dismissed the prospect of changed adolescent start times reducing sleep deprivation, arguing that phone usage is the real culprit.

"Maybe look at time management before you shift everybody's bus schedule," said Greg Wheeler, who argued changing high school times would not set kids up for college and the workplace.

"The school committee has no control over how children use screens in their own homes," responded committee member Tracey Spruce after the public comment period.

"Ii do not see any student being picked up at 6:30 in the morning," Blumstein said. "I can't conceive that we will end up with that being an option."

The committee will hear the results of the transportation study at their Nov. 5 meeting, Blumstein said. There is also an informal forum with a couple of school committee members Tuesday 9 a.m. at the Memorial Hall Library.

Christopher Huffaker: 412-265-8353 or chris.huffaker@patch.com.