The Greenwich Board of Education endorsed the adoption of later start times for Greenwich High School for the 2017-18 school year in Tuesday’s meeting, passing a motion by a 6-2 vote, and approving the board to take the next steps in refining the school bell times.
Although no final decision was made on a specific bell time for GHS, the board endorsed an approximate 8:30 a.m. start time for the high school, which currently starts at 7:30 a.m.
“I think it’s pretty clear we’re going to need more work on this, but I think it needs to start with a statement of where our goal is,” said BOE member Dr. Gaetane Francis. “I think the goal should be to change the high school start time.”
Inside a filled-to-capacity gymnasium at New Lebanon School, public comment from parents, students and advocates on both sides of the issue lasted for an hour and 40 minutes before Dr. Francis’ motion was brought up, which aims to start all district schools between 8 a.m. and 8:45 a.m.
Under this motion, School Bus Consultants (SBC) will deliver a presentation to the board on September 8—the board’s first meeting of the new school year—on a prospective plan and analysis for the 8 a.m. to 8:45 a.m. time frame for all district schools, with a target of 8:30 a.m. for the high school.
Start times of elementary schools would be allowed to be individualized, based on the specific school and cost saving strategies. A plan for middle schools to be better aligned with the recommendations of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the American Medical Association (AMA) would also be implemented in the plan.
Earlier in the day, the AMA announced their recommendation of later start times for schools to prevent sleep deprivation in teenagers.
Following the soon-departing Superintendent Dr. McKersie’s recommendation to the board to explore school start time options, two plans gained momentum among students and stakeholders.
Option 3 called for an 8 a.m. start for GHS, an 8:15 a.m. start for middle schools, and an 8:45 a.m. start for elementary schools. It comes at a projected $1,620,000 annual cost.
Option 11 proposed an 8:30 a.m. start for GHS, a 7:45 a.m. start for middle schools, and a 9 a.m. start for elementary schools, at a projected annual cost of $1,080,000.
Dr. Francis described the favored plan as a modification of Option 3 while other board members brought up the concerns of families with two working parents who need to drop off and pick up their child from school.
“My concern with Option 11 is that I think we only have one shot to do this,” said board chair Laura Erickson. “It’s not just a middle school issue, but also the elementary schools start way too late, and there are concerns for working families.”
Board member Debbie Appelbaum said, “I would be personally more comfortable supporting what is currently Option 3, with the high schools starting between 8 a.m. and 8:15 a.m., the middle schools starting between 8:15 a.m. and 8:30, while leaving the elementary schools as they are, at 8:45 a.m., or splitting the two elementary times down the middle. I’m concerned that in the effort to do good, we end up with unintended consequences that end up doing harm.”
A motion to let the district go ahead with Option 11 if the school start time plan is not approved by September 22—the board’s second school year meeting—failed by a 4-4 vote.
Among those in attendance were several GHS students who voiced their concerns to the board before it discussed possible motions. An hour into the meeting, the gymnasium was at standing-room only as advocates in favor of the start time change came dressed in white to show their solidarity.
Harry Bound, a senior and the first public speaker of the night, expressed his objection to later start times for the high school and middle school under Option 11.
“I think Option 11 is anti-family, anti-teacher, and anti-responsibility,” Bound said. “It’s unfair to impose on parents the burden to spend additional money on child care to keep their kids who are in elementary school under the watch of a caretaker. It’s anti-teacher because we’re going to lose teachers and good teachers don’t want to teach in a school where their needs aren’t heard. It’s immoral to deprive the children of the best teachers, and it’s immoral not to instill in GHS students a strong sense of responsibility about the time they go to bed.”
Akira Dunham, a junior and student-athlete on the soccer and hockey team, spoke in favor of Option 11.
“I am aware of the concerns that go against moving start times back, including one of the many reasons, like the athletic department and how that will be affected,” Dunham said. “As a varsity athlete, I think that it’s the education that matters the most. Sports are important to me and I’d do anything for my team, but it’s the education that is going to take me farther in life. Ultimately, it’s about the greater picture here to help the wellbeing of our students.”
Marco Pastore, a senior and captain of the GHS baseball team, gave his opinion on the effect of athletics and the changes to the school start times.
“It really hit close to home when one my coaches told me that he will not be able to make the commute next year when this happens,” Pastore said in his baseball uniform. “In the real world, you have to wake up and go do what you have to do. It’s about having responsibility.”
Emma Goodman, a recent GHS grad, compared her time on a collegiate sports team to how students in high school can help one another.
“There are plenty of kids at the high school who can handle waking up early, and I was one of them,” Goodman said. “I worked very hard in school and I did well, but I had plenty of friends who couldn’t, and they really needed the extra sleep. A lot of kids in the district can do really well whether or not the school start time changes, but a lot of kids in our team of Greenwich High School can’t. We need to be looking out for those students.”
