Its Wednesday at 9 a.m. Our 9th grade Newton South student is deep in REM sleep. School starts at 11:15am today for 9th graders at South because of PSAT testing. It raises the question: can Newton ease into a later start time by piloting it one day a week? Going forward, this could provide a much needed mid-week sleep recovery for kids and serve as a test case for working out the logistics of a full start-time changeover.
What if one day a week, school started in the late afternoon and ran into the evening? That way much of the ‘after school’ stuff that is such a logistical barrier could still be done; it would just be done before school started. This would also help alleviate the rush hour traffic mess for students and teachers.
I’d love to hear what our school committee members and SC candidates think.
Also, would it at least be possible to change high school “early release days” to “late arrival days”?
Could teachers start the day with their professional development work and then teach, instead of the other way around?
Short Answer: This would be a good first step.
Long Answer: It has already been done.. sort of. Here is the thing, towards the end of the year, all of Newton North highschoolers get at least one late start because of MCAS/PARCC test going on for the tenth graders and the Physics final for the ninth graders.
The biggest issue that I saw with the late arrival was that it messed up consistency. If a student sleeps until 10am (usually the starting time of school was 11ish, so this was when many of us woke up), then it is pretty tough for them to go to bed at 10pm or 11pm the next night to get up for school the following day.
There is a common stigma that if the start of the day is pushed back then students just stay up later the night before, this is not true. I have observed that idea put to test here in College. Many days, some of us don’t have class until the afternoon. Very few students consistently stay up late and still don’t get enough sleep.
Nonetheless, it’s worth a shot as a pilot as long as a plan to implement it for the full week is in place if the results are positive.
Sleep deprivation is a big problem for students and is frequently a topic of essays. The problem is, many of them don’t even know who their aldermen / School Committee members are. They don’t even know how are city is run. The student representatives to the School Committee need a vote so they can actually decide in their own future. Right now, just as easily as they can be listened to, they can be drowned out. I have had 1 on 1 meetings with current SC officials and some of them have even said that they don’t think the current student reps speak up enough.
@Greg,
Actually that is part of what we are looking at this year- if it’s possible to make those early release days in middle and high school into late starts.
In addition, the start time working group will be giving an update at the October 26 school committee meeting. We’ll also be discussing the CDC’s Youth Risk Behavior Survey results for Newton students at that meeting.
A comment has been removed because the poster was using a second anonymous name, a violation of our commenting policy.
@Nathan,
I can see how starting school late and running into the evening may eliminate some after school logistical issues, but it still creates a nightmare for kids who participate in sports. Team competition isn’t a unitary endeavor; our students compete against other school systems. Just speaking as a swim team parent, I can’t imagine other schools agreeing to an 8:00 or 9:00 p.m. meet start. Trust me – a 7:00 p.m. meet wreaks havoc on a young athlete because it takes even more hours for their bodies to calm down after the activity. This is why it is really important that the solution be approached regionally. Also, it isn’t just student athletes who will be impacted by a time change but all students who engage in any sort of inter-scholastic competition i.e. chess club, debate team, liegerbots – you name it!
Good points, Lisap. It would also impact kids who take part in theatre productions.
I’ll be frank. The School Committee is simply not on the same page with parents and students when it comes to changing high school start times. School Committee members feel no sense of urgency to make a change…
For years surveys of Newton high school students have indicated an epidemic of stress. Stress and many of its associated illnesses have been directly and irrefutably linked to sleep deprivation…
Then a couple of years ago we had three high school students commit suicide in the same school year. When the School Committee failed to adequately respond, I stated my opinion on this blog that their lack of action constituted the worst dereliction of duty I had ever witnessed from a group of elected officials. Nothing they have done in the past two years has changed my mind…
These current members of the SC do not give this issue sufficient weight. They are incapable of bringing about a change in high school start times, and incompetent for having not already done it…
It’s time for Mayor Warren to step up to the plate, and used his power under the the City Charter to order a change in start times.
Mike, I understand your frustration. Maybe, I being foolish, but I am optimistic that a real change is going to happen. I think the cost-benefit analysis will be a slam dunk for late start times. This school committee is the most competent one I have seen.
Would you mind googling my name and emailing me, so I can email you back?
@Jeffrey– [email protected]
Mike,
Kids today are under a lot of pressure, that is true. But they are under pressure from many sources in their lives. They are under pressure to take the hardest classes they can, to get the best grades they can, to get the highest SAT score they can, so they can get into the most prestigious college. They are under pressure to excel in everything they do, to be on the varsity team, not the J.V. They are under pressure to to do something extraordinary in order to stand out from the all the other incredible, extraordinary kids they compete with. They are under pressure to stand out against kids from other nations who come to the U.S for higher education. They are under pressure from their peers to use drugs, alcohol, and to engage in sexual contact. They are bombarded with images of what the perfect male and female looks like, acts like and sounds like. They are under pressure to conform and to be unique at the same time. They are under pressure to meet what they believe are the expectations of their parents and their own idealized expectations for themselves, to be thin, popular, athletic, charming, strong, and all the countless expectations teens conjure in their minds. Yes, they are under stress.
There are also many teenagers who suffer from mental illness – specific, diagnoseable mental illnesses: schizophrenia, anxiety, eating disorders, bipolar disorder, borderline personality disorder. The list goes on and on. Yes, some kids have situational depression, but many others have serious mental illness which go undiagnosed and untreated because there are so few treatment options available to them. If you want to rail about something, please – rail about the sorry state of psychiatric care for teenagers with mental illness. That does far greater harm to our youth than early school start times.
As for your claim that the school committee has done nothing, well there you are wrong. The City of Newton partnered with Riverside Community Care. I welcome you to learn about their programs. They provide 24 hour crisis intervention to kids in crisis. They run the Life Skills Center, one of the few long term day treatment programs for kids with significant mental illness in this area, funded by the DMH. Please, talk to them about risk of suicide in the teenage population. And last of all, please stop tying school start times to the tragic deaths of a son and two daughters of this City until you have walked in their parents shoes, or the shoes of families who have actually dealt with a child struggling with thoughts of suicide.
@Lisap–
Neither of us knows the stories behind each other’s life experiences. So don’t assume what I have or have not “dealt with.”
Yes, there are many sources of stress for teenagers. I agree with every issue you listed. And I also agree with your assessment of the state of psychiatric care for teenagers. I do not however believe you are correct or qualified in your determination that particular issue “does far greater harm to our youth than early school start times.” Other than your opinion, what is the basis for that determination?
You made reference to the City working with Riverside Community Care, and pointed to their wonderful work with kids in crisis. I’d encourage you inquire of the experts there, how they feel about the effects of early morning start times on teens.
Lastly, it is not your place to tell me what cause or causes I should personally support. I choose to stand up and speak out on behalf of our 3000 high school students, because they are being victimized by systemic stress. Standing right along side me is the American Academy of Pediatrics, the National Sleep Foundation, and numerous other experts and organizations. So I’m in good company, and you’d best believe I will continue to fight for this cause.
Mike,
I base my opinion that undiagnosed, untreated mental illness does more harm to teens than early start times based upon data, research and studies conducted by organizations such as the National Alliance on Mental Illness, which has found that 1 in 10 children struggle with mental illness severe enough to cause significant impairment in their day-to-day lives. I rely on studies by the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services and Duke University which both independently concluded that more than half of teenagers with psychiatric disorders receive no treatment whatsoever in separate studies conducted 14 years apart. I base it on research that shows that 50% of lifetime mental illness cases begin by age 14, and that the majority of depressed youth go untreated and undiagnosed. I base my opinion on findings by NAMI that 90% of those who die by suicide suffer from a mental health disorder.
And Mike, you’re right that it is not for me to tell you what issues to fight for. I don’t disagree with later school start times, but I think it is wrong, terribly wrong to relate the suicides of those three kids to this issue.
@Lisap
Because I have long respected your opinion, and in order to avoid even the slightest impression of exploiting those three tragedies for this cause, I will no longer make reference to them in my blog posts on this subject.