Committee Discusses Start Times for Westborough Schools

WESTBOROUGH, MA—At its most recent meeting, on Jan. 4, the Westborough School Committee tackled an agenda that included a vote on warrant articles as well as a review of school policies. The committee also discussed an update on the idea of changing school start times.

Many school districts across the country are examining the idea of shifting start times for classes, particularly after significant research has come to the forefront. "The American Academy of Pediatrics recognizes insufficient sleep in adolescents as an important public health issue that significantly affects the health and safety, as well as the academic success, of our nation’s middle and high school students," said the AAP in a release.

In March 2015 the Westborough School Committee formed the School Start Time Committee to explore the feasibility of delaying start times at Westborough High School and Gibbons Middle School in response to the growing body of medical research finding that delayed start times have important health and wellness benefits for adolescents, according to an announcement from Superintendent Amber Bock.

"Specifically, the School Committee recognized that during puberty, biological rhythms shift so that adolescents feel alert late into the evening," she wrote. "This leads to a mismatch between teens’ circadian rhythms and early high school start times, which many school districts around the country are attempting to address. In Westborough, this issue is particularly complex given the relatively wide geographical distance between schools."

At the Jan. 4 meeting, which can be viewed here, Bock provided to the school committee an update of the School Start Time Committee's progress. She explained that the committee, after its initial research and a significant amount of legwork, paused for a spell while it decided to extend its membership based on feedback from the community.

"We reviewed all of our goals and really started over to move forward with a larger committee," she told the school committee.

Digging back into the initial data, which initially resulted in a proposal to shift the start time by 20 minutes for the whole district, became problematic given Westborough's three-tiered bus system. To replace the bus system, moving it to a two-tiered system that would require a new fleet of vehicles, the town would have to swallow a more than $1 million price tag. That, Bock said, wasn't feasible.

"The committee recognizes that as an annual financial burden that outweighs the benefits of sleep time," said Bock. "We didn't think it was logical given the financial concerns. We moved forward with the basis of accepting the three tier bus system. We learned some tricks about how we can streamline the bus system."

Some options were tabled by the committee, and not seen as viable at this time. The committee, Bock said, has come up with three viable options that have the potential of being approved by the school committee.

The most viable, she said, would be an option that would shift the start time for the Mill Pond school to 7:45 a.m., and the high school would move later, to an 8:10 a.m. start time.

"There are clear pros and cons to each on the list," said Bock.

Watch the full update here. Start at 064:45 for the start time update.

Do you think start times should be later, specifically for high school students? Share your comments in the comments section below.

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