South Brunswick Students Sign Petition, Oppose Schedule Change

SOUTH BRUNSWICK, NJ – Several high schoolers and parents from South Brunswick are signing a petition on Change.org, urging the school district to continue with the current remote learning school hours.

When the school district pivots to the hybrid learning model on Nov. 16, there will be a change in learning hours to accommodate remote and in-person students. This change could have adverse affects on the health of students, says the petition.

Under the current remote learning schedule, high school students begin their day at 9 a.m. and end at 3 p.m. This gives them ample time to rest and complete their homework.

But with the new plan, classes will start at 7:30 a.m., ending at 1:55 p.m., forcing “students to sit on screens without break,” the petition says.

Started by a student named Sourav Patra, the petition claims that staring at a screen for almost eight hours a day “may have devastating developmental effects on students of all ages.”

Since its publication, the petition has garnered 1059 signatures, with a target of reaching 1500.

According to the petition, the new 40 minutes addition to the remote learning schedule could also prove to be a “health risk” for students.

While an overwhelming number of parents and guardians in the school district opted for virtual learning, some students chose to attend in-person classes.

Under the new plan, the lunch break for remote learning students has also been reduced to 30 minutes.

“The Board has also made the completely premature decision to reduce lunch time to 30 minutes a day from 60 minutes previously. This is by far the biggest mistake they made during the meeting. Those 60 minutes provided a time for students to rest their eyes, and their brains,” read the petition.

The petition claims that students are already struggling to focus during the 90 minute blocks and providing them with just a 30-minute lunch break is “disrespectful behavior from the people who are supposed to ensure the safety of all children who attend school.”

This is not the first time students are expressing concern over change in schedule. During a Board of Education meeting held on Oct. 21, student representative Zoya Khurram told Board members that students wanted to continue with the current learning hours.

Khurram, who conducted a survey prior to the meeting, said, “They (students) are very concerned if they have to wake up at 7:30 a.m., they are going to have to readjust all over again after months of waking up at a later time."

Read More Here: South Brunswick Students Prefer Delayed Start To In-Person Class

A little over 204 students had responded to Khurram's survey at the time .

In the survey, high schooler said they have already settled into a routine and their mental health is better as they can balance academics and extracurricular activities.

Students also said they preferred if the school district began the hybrid learning model on Jan. 19, 2021 instead of Nov. 16.

Meanwhile, the students who opted for the hybrid model in the survey, said they missed social interaction which greatly affected their mental health.

During the meeting, school Superintendent Scott Feder presented his plan for the Nov. 16 reopening, saying middle and high school students will be divided into two groups. These groups will attend in-person classes on alternate days.

"You're not going to get a lot of kids in classes, and that's very helpful as far as safety goes. But the question we are trying to grapple with is – what does that look like for the class? We believe that's manageable. But we want the best - so we have to figure that out," he said.

The American Academy of Pediatrics and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published a study recommending middle and high schoolers start school at 8:30 a.m. or later. This leads to improvement in health, academic performance and quality of life.

Another study conducted by the University of Washington said that teens who get more sleep showed improvement in grades and attendance.

The school district did not respond to request for comment.

The Board of Education will be meeting again on Oct. 29 at 7 p.m. Jennifer Diszler, assistant superintendent of curriculum, instruction and administration, will be presenting on Technology Tools for Remote Learning.

Click here for information on how to join the meeting. https://www.sbschools.org/boar...

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