Burlington School Committee Signals How It Will Vote On Later High School Start Time Plan

BURLINGTON, MA -- The Burlington School Committee signaled that it would support a proposal for earlier start times at two of the town's four elementary schools to implement plan that would allow high school students to start their day later. The board won't vote on the proposal until its November 14 meeting, but on Monday night a majority of board members said they were supporting a plan that would have students at the Fox Hill and Pine Glen Elementary start their school days 25 minutes earlier, while students at Memorial Elementary School would see no change to their start time and students at Francis Wyman Elementary School would start school at 8:35 instead of 8:10 am.

Superintendent Eric Conti, who recommended the committee adopt the new times, noted at Monday night's meeting that no student would be asked to start school at a time earlier than the district currently uses. "Anything before 8:10 is where we got push back" in meetings with parents to discuss the plan, Conti said.

The committee reviewed four proposals for new start times as part of a desire to have classes at the high school start later in light of growing evidence showing that teenagers need to sleep later than younger children and adults.

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The Committee took no action Tuesday night, and the proposed start time changes are by no means guaranteed to pass when the committee votes next month. Committee Member Christine Monaco said she was torn on the proposal and had heard negative feedback on the later high school start times from some unlikely detractors: the very high school students the measure is supposed to help.

"The high school students I have heard from are telling me that getting out at 3 is too late," Monaco said.

The committee reviewed four possible schedules that try to accommodate shifts in bus schedules while minmizing bussing costs. The committee is also taking into account feedback it received from parents at a series of meetings leading up to next month's votes. 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.

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.

"I wish this did not impact anybody's family in a negative way," said Committee Member Martha Simon in voicing support for Conti's recommendation. "It will affect a lot of people's schedules and that's stressful -- I get that. But this option will benefit the largest number of students."

If adopted, start times would changes as follows:

• No change to the Middle School's start time of 7:35 am.
• No change to Memorial Elementary School's 8:10 am.
• Francis Wyman Elementary School would have its 8:10 start time pushed back to 8:35.
• Fox Hill and Pine Glen Elementary Schools, which currently start at 8:35 am, would start at 8:10 am beginning in the 2018-19 school year.
• Burlington High School students would start their day at 8:35 am, back from 8:10 am.

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

Patch file photo.

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