SHREWSBURY – Shrewsbury students may soon be able to hit “snooze” a few more times in the near future.
The Shrewsbury School Committee is currently considering a later start to the school day for next school year.
The Sleep Health Advisory Committee has been meeting regularly throughout the fall, and the committee presented its findings to the School Committee at three separate meetings in November and December.
The committee presented two different options.
“Option A,” as the advisory committee described, involves moving the high school start time to 7:55 a.m., the middle school start time to 8:35 a.m. and the elementary school start time to 9:15 a.m.
“Option B,” on the other hand, would send middle school students to school earlier in the morning. Middle school students would start school at 7:55 a.m., high school students would start at 8:35 a.m., while elementary school students would begin at 9:15 a.m.
Sleep research
Spring Street School psychologist Laura Braun-Lush and Michael Cerio, who works in the biotech field and has two daughters in Shrewsbury schools, led the committee’s Research Task Group.
According to Cerio, the group went through scientific literature to help the committee and Shrewsbury community to make an informed decision.
The group concluded that insufficient sleep, or “sleep debt,” can negatively impact high school students in various ways, including decreased mental well-being and an increased risk of physical disease and behavioral disorders.
The task group also noted that lack of sleep leads to an increased risk of car accidents and declining grades.
One study the task group consulted tracked the sleep of a 30,000-student school district in Denver, Colo., suggested that later school start times did not necessarily mean that students would go to bed later at night.
“What we’ve heard anecdotally… is that if you move [school] start time later, kids will stay up that much later and get the same amount of sleep. What this study indicated very clearly is that students stay up a little later – about 14 or 15 minutes later – but they actually slept 45 minutes more on average each night,” Superintendent Joe Sawyer said, referencing the Colorado study.
In November, the School Committee conducted a survey to students, parents, caretakers and staff. A total of 3,947 people participated in the survey.
Top-rated responses from students and parents indicated that they believed school start times should be changed.
“Teens will be more energized and ready to learn,” one anonymous student wrote, “it will open them up to get the most out of their education.”
The staff feedback was more mixed.
One comment pointed out how a later start and end to the school day could affect staff schedules.
Potential impact of start time change
However, any changes to the school start time poses logistical challenges, including changes to the bus schedule.
The committee took into consideration other districts who changed their time and hose who opted against it or reverted to their original hours. It also considered how the change would impact childcare, athletics and extracurriculars.
Based on a survey of local athletic directors performed by Director of Athletics Jay Costa, there’s “a correlation exists between shifting high school times later and the possibility and likelihood of encountering more conflicts and obstacles to success.”
Athletes could have to leave class early to travel for away games, and the later departure times may lead to higher traffic and longer commutes.
Changing school start times may also mean more practices and games would be held on weekends.
Though the advisory committee presented two plans, no recommendation was made.
According to Sawyer, the School Committee will hold a public hearing on Jan. 4.
The school committee hopes to vote on the matter in early February.
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