Newton To Cut 50 Minutes From School Day For High Schools: Plan

NEWTON, MA — A three-year process to shift to a later start time for Newton high schools in on track to align reconfigured Newton North and Newton South schedules and create a shorter, more efficient school day. Three proposals are under review with a recommendation for one to the Newton School Committee expected this fall.

Under the proposals, start times would be moved from 7:40 a.m. at Newton South, and 7:50 a.m. at Newton North, to as late as 9 a.m. The school day would also be cut from the current average of 7 hours, 35 minutes, to 6 hours, 45 minutes, on most days, with shorter class blocks and the addition of a "flex-time" block in the middle of the school day for additional academic and peer support.

"We currently have a very lengthy school day that already has a very late end time," said Toby Romer, Newton Assistant Superintendent of Secondary Schools. "When we talked about just shifting the current school day back we got a lot of feedback that it would have a negative impact on after-school activities and a negative family effect. So then we worked on a way to start later without ending significantly later."

In 2017, the Newton School Committee adopted the goal of pushing the high school start times later in response to surveys that show older students learn better with more sleep and later start times. Logistically, however, the move could not be made without a dramatic ripple effect on forecast transportation costs, delays in after-school activities and traffic concerns in the neighborhoods surrounding schools. So ways to mitigate those disruptions were re-examined through additional discussions with students, staff and the community, as well as a traffic study. In April, the schedule proposals were narrowed to three deemed feasible.

Newton School Committee Chair Ruth Goldman said she would like the district to settle on one optimal proposal and present it to the committee for approval.

"We are committed to making it happen because it's in the best welfare of students," Goldman said. "But we want to take the time to make sure everyone is on board because we understand there are important issues associated with it, and it will be disruptive to some in the community."

Goldman said the implementation could come in either the 2020-21 school year or 2021-22 school year based on when it is finalized and the anticipated impact on transportation and daycare schedules.

"For some families it's going to be a big change," Goldman said. "If we decide on a new plan in late fall or winter, it may only be fair to give everyone a full year's warning."

The decision to revamp the high school schedule has also been a longtime coming after the current schedule was based on a compromise Goldman said is "outdated" and "a hybrid that nobody loved." Having Newton North and Newton South on the same schedule will allow for more shared resources and learning opportunities for students across the two campuses.

The new school day would eliminate the current "J" and "X" blocks at the end of the school day and replace them with the "flex-time" block.

"It allows more time during the school day to promote social and emotional learning," Romer said. "With the current J and X blocks, many student leave because of after-school programs, athletics or just other activities. The flex time allows for time in the middle of the day to have access to things they do not necessarily have access to during the current school day."

While starting high school days later has been an initiative in many communities in recent years, in Newton the move faced unique challenges. Because the school day already started 30 to 45 minutes later than some surrounding communities, it was determined that simply pushing it back a few minutes to 8 a.m. would not have a beneficial impact. Goldman said Newton already runs its buses efficiently for such a densely populated city, so rather than create transportation efficiencies like later high school start times do in some communities, in Newton it was projected to add significant cost.

Additional concerns were that later end times would push athletic events into evenings or to weekends — most of the fields Newton uses for high school sports do not have lights — and there were worries about traffic crunches in areas like Parker Street where Newton South, Brown Middle School and Oak Hill Middle School all essentially use the same campus footprint.

While Romer allows not all concerns about the domino effect of the later start time will be fully resolved, the hope is that working with the parents, students and faculty will help lessen the burden of the transition when it happens.

"One thing we have learned through this process is that there are trade-offs with any proposal," Romer said. "That's why it's important to have an extensive communication process with the community so we can avoid having an overly negative impact on any one group."