The ConVal Regional School District wants middle and high school students to start their day an hour later next year, though the move would require voters to raise $808,000 this March for additional school buses.
The money – proposed to be raised through a warrant article on the March ballot – would be used to add 14 to 15 additional bus routes to form a single-tier bussing system which would allow all students in the district to go to school at a similar time, Superintendent Kimberly Saunders said Tuesday.
“It’s all about wanting to make sure we put it out in front of the legislative body,” Saunders said. “We don’t renegotiate our bus contract for a couple years, so there’s really no way to contractually add this without a warrant article. We wanted to make sure people could prioritize this and make sure this is important.”
If passed, middle and high school start times would move an hour later. The shift in start time would facilitate the need for more bus routes, which is in part to ensure elementary school students and high school students are not on the same buses.
The district currently has 38 bus routes, Saunders said.
The conversation about delaying the start of the day for middle and high school students began around two years ago, Saunders said, when a group of parents and educators began to look at school start times.
“There is talk about adolescents needing almost as much sleep as infants due to the growing and development taking place,” Saunders said. “Being able to practice what we know the research is telling us would be a wonderful result [of the article passing.]”
About 58 percent of middle school students and 73 percent of high school students are not getting enough sleep on the average school night, according to a study released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) last year.
The American Academy of Sleep Medicine recommends that teenagers ages 13 to 18 years old should sleep eight to ten hours per 24 hour period.
The CDC said students who do not get enough sleep are at an increased risk for obesity, diabetes, injuries, poor mental health, and attention and behavioral problems.
“Our current schedule really limits how we can support that happening,” Saunders said. “Because it is such a large district, some kids are getting up for the bus as early as 5:15 a.m. It’s hard to get that ten hours of sleep [in that situation.]”
Saunders said the district sent a survey out to parents to solicit input on a potential school start time change, where a majority of elementary school parents voiced opposition to flipping the start times between the elementary schools and the middle and high schools. Parents were also opposed to putting young kids on the bus with their older cohorts.
The ConVal School Board is divided on its support of the warrant article, voting 9-3 to put the article on the warrant and 6-5 to recommend the article to voters.
Board member Niki McGettigan, who represents Temple, was one of three board members who voted in opposition both times.
McGettigan said Tuesday she supports the concept of a later school start time for middle and high school students, she just thinks the proposed monetary amount is a lot – especially given the 1.87 percent increase in the 2019-20 proposed operating budget.
“All research points to [later start times] being a better model for students. I think our high school kids are a little more nocturnal,” McGettigan said. “I feel that the proposed amount is a lot to absorb with the proposed budget being as high as it is. Educationally, it’s the right thing to do… I’m being more conservative budget-wise.”
Janine Lesser, a board member from Peterborough, supported putting the article on the ballot but voted against recommending it to voters.
Lesser took a similar stance to McGettigan, saying that the big opposition in the proposal is cost and not the benefit for students.
“I’m not sure there isn’t another way we could accomplish this,” Lesser said.
Lesser said the district should take more time to explore whether there is a less costly way of implementing a later start time for the middle and high schools.
Had the proposal involved flipping the start times instead of having all schools start at a similar time, Saunders said there would be no cost increase associated with the change.
Stephan Morrissey, a Francestown representative on the board, said Wednesday he voted in favor of the article as the decision should ultimately be left to the district’s voters.
“There are pros and cons, and I’m sitting on the fence,” Morrissey said. “It’s all about what the voters want. It’s an $808,000 project. If the public wishes to provide the benefit of starting school later then this is what the cost is.”
If the article is passed, Saunders said the money needed for the increased bus routes would be included in future operating budgets. The money includes the cost of the additional bus routes and the fuel needed for the buses, Saunders said.
The district is in the fourth year of a six-year contract with Student Transportation America.
If passed, Saunders said the district will have to look at the logistics of afterschool activities and drop off and pick up times.
Nicholas Handy can be reached at 924-7172 ext. 235 or nhandy@ledgertranscript.com.