Moving School Start Time Gets Push

A committee is being set up at Barrington High School to further consider moving back the start time – an idea already favored by the School Committee for as early as next year.

“I want information to consider a change for next year,” said School Committee Chairman Patrick Guida. “There are substantial benefits in student achievement with a later start time.”

“I think the research is clear,” said Vice Chairman Robert Shea, who got the ball rolling last year. “Other places have done it. It’s much better for student achievement.”

The high school start time now is 7:40 am. Principal Joe Hurley said the committee will look at moving back the start time to at least 8 am, although an 8:20 or 8:30 am start time is also a possibility.

Hurley said the committee is just being formed. It will include members of the School Improvement Team, other representatives, and George Finn, the director of athletics and student activities.

There is some concern with athletics, Hurley said. The committee will look hard at the impact of a later start time on sports.

“But other schools have done it,” he said, including Mt. Hope High School in Bristol.

School Committee Student Representative Elizabeth Teitz was asked how she felt about a later start time.

“I function better with more sleep and more time in the morning,” she said.

Much of the research that has impressed the School Committee came from two members of the school department’s Health and Wellness Committee, Megan Douglas and Jill Cuzzone. They have convinced the school board that teens who get more sleep make better students.

Douglas said she would be happy to invite a school-start specialist from Wilton, Conn., to talk about the logistics of changing a start time. She said back in February that teens in Wilton improved class participation, their mood at school and at home, and made them more efficient with time during the day. Wilton changed its start time in 2004.

Changing the school start time will require a community buy-in to be successful, however, Douglas and Cuzzone said in Februry. Arguments against it will be the effect on athletics, after-school jobs and other younger children.

What do you think about moving back the start times for the high school and middle school?