WHEN WILL BELLS TOLL?
School start times to be announced today
City students are expected to know today their new bell start and end times for next year after a team of MIT researchers using 100 computers worked overnight to find the best solution for the Hub’s 125 schools.
“This is a problem nobody thought we could solve and we’re going to solve it this evening,” Superintendent Tommy Chang said after a School Committee meeting. “This is something nobody thought was possible and they literally have run these scenarios ... It is a very complex algorithm.”
MIT researchers began running an algorithm last night with 100 computers operating in parallel to create 100 solutions in an hour and a half.
The move came after the school board voted on a new bell time policy. Boston Public School officials did not release time changes for specific schools ahead of the vote.
Principals and staff will be notified today and letters are expected to go out to families this afternoon.
The new policy aims to increase the number of high school kids starting after 8 a.m., increase the number of elementary school students dismissed before 4 p.m. and assign schools with higher numbers of medically fragile students or students with autism to bell times reflective of their needs and reinvest money from the changes back into classrooms. It will be reviewed every five years.
Schools officials say they have had to strike a balance and make compromises especially when it comes to after-school activities to reach the best solution for a majority of kids.
“There isn’t a perfect situation,” School Committee member Regina Robinson acknowledged. “We will not be able to please everyone ... This is to benefit our students.”
The school system has long grappled with its bell times and highly expensive transportation costs. At the same time, more research points to benefits for high schoolers starting after 8:30 a.m. The district’s 125 schools start variously at 7:30 a.m., 8:30 a.m. or 9:30 a.m. with most high schools beginning early.
“It has tangible effects on young people’s lives,” Chang said. “Most important, it has an effect on student performance.”
Right now, only 19 percent of secondary students start after 8 a.m. But school officials aim to raise that by 80 percent.
Less than 70 percent of elementary students are dismissed before 4 p.m., which could rise to 75 percent after the algorithm is used.