Burlington Public Schools Releases Bus Schedule For Later High School Start Time Proposal

BURLINGTON, MA -- The superintendents office released the proposed new school start times. The Burlington School Committee will vote on a later start for high school students beginning next year at its meeting on October 24. The shift would require earlier start times at the Marshall Simonds Middle School and the four elementary schools in the district.

The proposed schedule, along with changes to the bus schedule, was posted Friday on Superintendent Eric Conti's blog:

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Burlington Public Schools will be holding community forums ahead of the school committee's vote to hear feedback from parents and to discuss the proposed changes:

• Tuesday, October 3, 8:30 a.m. in the Francis Wyman Elementary School Auditorium
• Tuesday, October 3, 7:00 p.m. in the Francis Wyman Elementary School Auditorium
• Thursday, October 5, 8:30 a.m. in the Burlington High School Auditorium
• Thursday, October 5, 7:00 p.m. in the Burlington High School Auditorium

The proposal 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 Burlington 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.

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.

Such changes, however, don't come without hardship. While Burlington has already worked out agreements with other schools to accommodate high school sports schedules, changes in school start times can be difficult on families that rely on older children to watch their younger siblings after school. Students may find it difficult to find time for after school jobs or extracurricular activities that are not school sanctioned because of the later dismissal time. The later start times can also upend the schedules of parents who want to get their kids off to school before they themselves have to get to work.

School districts in 19 states implemented later start times for this school year, according to USA Today. Meanwhile, California is considering a bill that would make it illegal for schools to start before 8:30 a.m. Still, like Burlington High School, about one out of every 10 schools in the U.S. has a start time before 7:30 a.m.

Photo of Burlington High School by John Phelan via WikiMedia Commons.