Schools

Start-Time Survey Deadline Today

A survey asking parents, teachers and other groups about changing the Barrington schools start times has a deadline for completion late tonight; students to take survey starting Thursday.

The deadline for completing a survey that asks parents, teachers and staff about changing the school start times in Barrington is today at 11:45 pm.

The survey hosted by Survey Monkey is posted on the schools website.

As of late last week, more than 600 surveys had been completed, according to Megan Douglas, a member of the School Committee’s Health and Wellness Committee, which supports changing the school start times.

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The survey can be completed anonymously and quickly – less than 5 minutes on average. It is designed to gather “your personal perspective on how these changes might impact you and what factors you think should be the most important in the decision-making process,” according to the introductory page to the survey.

Changing the start time of Barrington’s schools grew out of the Health and Wellness Committee's examination of the issue in response to research around sleep needs in children and adolescents.  

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“To examine this question, the committee has reviewed the research on sleep, held a forum to introduce the ideas to the community, and has collected data from the growing number of other communities that have made the change in school start times,” according to the survey’s introductory page. 

Information gathered from parents, students, teachers, and school staff will be shared with the School Committee at its May 3 meeting. That data will make up the foundation of a recommendation that will be shared with the School Committee and the community.

Comments made by survey-takers also is providing information not available in the survey, Douglas said.

“A lot of comments are being made,” she said.

All respondents fill out a brief section that identifies them by group and which school their children attend or which school they work at. Respondents then fill out sections designed specifically for eight separate groups:

  • Parents of students at the middle school and high school
  • Parents of students at Hampden Meadows
  • Parents of students at Nayatt, Primrose Hill, and Sowams
  • Teachers and staff at the middle school and high school
  • Teachers and staff at Hampden Meadows
  • Teachers and staff at Nayatt, Primrose Hill, and Sowams
  • Students in Grades 6-8
  • Students in Grades 9-12

Respondents who are members of multiple groups, such as parents of children at more than one school or both parent and teacher/staff in Barrington, are asked to complete multiple sections.

Middle and high school students will be taking the survey online at home, said Douglas, using a separate survey site. They will take the survey from Thursday afternoon through next Wednesday night.  Students who already took the other survey will need to retake it because the questions are different and directed more at students, she said.

Teachers also were being pushed early this week to take the survey because of a smaller than wanted response so far.

Click here to get to the home page of the Barrington Public Schools where you will start the survey.


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