Board to consider later school start times

Teen sleep patterns cited as reason for consideration

Phoenixville Area School District officials are considering a change to school start and stop times.

“If you’re really focused on sleep as the issue, we also have to look at earlier end times as well.” Alan Fegley, Phoenixville Area School District superintendent

PHOENIXVILLE » Try not to be mad at that teenager in your life who stays in bed too long every morning. It’s not their fault — it’s biology.

Recognizing emerging science that suggests the teenage brain works best after 8 or 8:30 a.m. and struggles to fall asleep before 11 p.m., Phoenixville Area School District officials are seriously considering a change to school start and stop times.

“Teens and tweens are chronically sleep-deprived,” said board member Lori Broker, adding current research shows their brains are not at peak performance in early morning hours and letting them start later could be one way to raise test scores in Phoenixville schools.

“I know there are middle and high school kids at the bus stop at 6:30 a.m. There are even some middle school clubs that start at 6,” said board member Jessely Soto.

Exploration of the topic began last year, but Superintendent Alan Fegley told the board during a workshop meeting Thursday that he has already fallen behind on the timeline he set for moving the issue to a decision.

Unionville High School has already adopted an earlier school day, and many school districts are examining to see how successful it becomes. John Sanville, UnionvilleChadds Ford Superintendent, said so far it has been a success with few complaints.

He and board member Eric Daugherty attended a seminar on the subject in Washington, D.C., and a March 13 session for teachers, students and staff — with an evening session for parents — has been organized to help educate the community about the issue.

But, at Daugherty’s urging, the board wants the district to move faster and informally agreed Thursday night to direct Fegley to begin putting together scenarios for what a middle school and high school day that starts at 8 a.m. and/or at 8:30 a.m. would look like.

“If you’re really focused on sleep as the issue, we also have to look at earlier end times as well,” said Fegley.

There are many things to take into account, Fegley warned.

For example, “there are a lot of impacts that won’t come to the surface until you start saying all sports have to start at 5:30, there will be issues that result from that,” said Fegley

“You’re looking at double bus runs, so do you change times of other grades to try to save money?” he said.

“The community is not going to get engaged until they know what the possibilities are,” Fegley said.

“It will take a lot of parent buy-in” if it’s going to work, said Broker.

Soto said it may require several special meetings with parents to hash out the issues.

Fegley said although the board is moving forward, it will be some time before a new system could be implemented — if the board finally decides to do so.

“It wouldn’t be next year,” he said in reference to the 2018-2019 school year. “The soonest it could be is the year after that.”

DIGITAL FIRST MEDIA FILE PHOTO Studies have shown students perform better in school if they get more sleep, leading some school districts to consider later start times.