Pennsbury Changing School Start Times In September

FALLSINGTON, PA —The Pennsbury School District will allow some students in September to get a little more sleep.

After years of debate, the school district is moving back start times to promote health based on studies it has conducted.

In an email to the Pennsbury School Community on Friday, Schools Superintendent Thomas A. Smith said that the school district has investigated changing school start times since 2018, especially starting high school later.

The superintendent said the move is being made due to an "increasing body of research" that indicates high school students benefit from starting school after 8 a.m.

Last spring, the Pennsbury School Board approved moving forward with time changes for Pennsbury High School and Pennsbury Middle Schools, beginning in September.

The final school start and end times for September 2025 are as follows:

• High School —8:15 a.m. to 2:58 p.m.
• Middle School —7:35 a.m. to 2:20 p.m.
• Elementary School times stay the same (9 a.m. to 3:40 p.m.)

The study comes from a pediatrician with Princeton Nassau Pediatrics who is chairman of the department of pediatrics for Penn Medicine Princeton Health and chairman of the Task Force on Adolescent Sleep and School Start Times for the New Jersey Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics.

A presentation was given at Pennsbury High School in October 2021 and to the school board last April. Click here to see the presentation.

Smith said the transportation and athletics departments were involved throughout the planning process.

He said more details will be shared in the coming weeks. Smith said he wanted to release the new start times to allow parents to plan their schedules as soon as possible.