High School Start Time Update Meeting to Be Held Monday Night

NEWTON, MA - The High School Start Time Working Group will hold a public meeting Monday night to update residents and receive feedback on a proposed later start time for high schools in Newton.

The meeting will be held at 6 p.m. at the Education Center in Newtonville.

The group, comprised of School Committee members Ruth Goldman and Ellen Gibson, Superintendent David Fleishman, Assistant Superintendent for Secondary Education Toby Romer and Long-Range Planning Manager Julie Kirrane, was formed in September of last year based on the belief that later high school start times benefit the health and well-being of adolescents.

Currently, students arrive at Newton North High School at 7:50 a.m. and Newton South High School at 7:40 a.m., according to the committee's web page.

A 2008 study published in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine, titled "Adolescent sleep, school start times, and teen motor vehicle crashes," reported that after one school district delayed its high school start times from 7:30 a.m. to 8:30 a.m., students averaged 12 to 30 minutes more sleep each night and the number of students who averaged more than eight hours of sleep increased from 37 percent to 50 percent.

Monday night's meeting will be held at 6 p.m. at the Education Center, 100 Walnut St. in Newtonville.

>>>Visit the High School Start Time Working Group's web page for more information on the health benefits of a later start time.