Panel to host sleep health forums

The school board’s pupil services committee is hosting two informational/educational public meetings.

SOUTH COVENTRY >> The issue of sleep health and early school start times continues to awaken strong feelings in the Owen J. Roberts School District.

In an effort to determine how to best ensure adolescent sleep health, the school board’s pupil services committee is hosting two informational/educational public meetings.

The first of those meetings will be held at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 21, in the high school LGI room. The second meeting is scheduled for March 14, also at 7 p.m. in the high school LGI room.

During a school board committee of the whole meeting Monday evening, several board members said they were hoping to get as many district residents to attend the sleep health meetings as possible, since a potential change to later school start times will have farranging implications for students, teachers, parents and even residents who don’t have school-age children.

“This is going to impact a lot of people,” said school board President Lisa Huzzard.

The purpose of the meetings are two-fold. For one thing, organizers want to present information on current research on adolescent

sleep health, which is driving a movement toward later school start times. In addition, the school board wants to gauge public opinion on the concept of moving to later start times in the district.

“We hear from a lot of people who are in favor of it,” noted board member Leslie Proffitt, who chairs the pupil services committee. “We just want people to come together to talk about it. This is a really great way for people to get their voices heard.”

During the first meeting, district officials will present research and show a TED Talk about adolescent sleep health. They will also discuss current busing needs, including transportation to private schools, Proffitt said. And, they will examine the budget implications of various schedule change

possibilities.

In addition, the district’s athletic director and activities director will be invited to discuss how later school start times might impact extracurricular programs.

The decision to hold the two public meetings arose out from two earlier public forums on sleep health that were held by the district in October and November of last year. Feedback received from those forums made it clear that the district needed to get more information out to the public, Proffitt said.

“There was so much information that needed to be shared that we put together a task force,” she explained.

The task force, which consists of members of various stakeholders in the district, will be part of the upcoming public meetings.

“The public is part of the task force, too,” Proffitt said, adding that it’s important for as many people to come out as possible so that the board has a clear idea of what concerns residents have regarding changing school start times.

Several board members raised issues they felt needed to be addressed in the public meetings.

Board member Matthew Fitzgerald stressed the importance of understanding the impact any changes to school start times would have on sports.

“It might be good to understand when (student athletes) have to be at school,” Fitzgerald pointed out.

Board member Cathie Whitlock noted that senior citizens will be concerned about potential cost impacts.

“The concerns from people who don’t have kids in the district is likely to be ‘Is this going to cost us money?’” Whitlock noted.

Huzzard observed that making a decision on changing school start times was a daunting task for the board.

“I don’t like having to decide

this for the whole district,” she said, and recommended that the board consider having the entire district vote on options when they are available.

The issue of sleep health is not a new one for the district. The school board has been grappling for several years with concerns that early start times in the high school and middle school could lead to sleep deprivation in teens.

Parents Kathy DiMarino and Cheryl Hertzog have both been fighting for later school start times, pointing to statistics that link inadequate sleep in adolescents to depression, anxiety and other health problems.

They regularly attend board meetings, voicing concerns about early school start times, pleading the board to consider changing start times at the high school and middle school from 7:30 a.m. to no earlier than 8:30 a.m. That suggestion is based on an American Academy of Pediatrics 2014 recommendation that calls for secondary schools to open no earlier than 8:30 a.m. to avoid sleep deprivation in adolescents.

While experts on sleep health recommend later school start times, moving to a later starting bell by an hour, or even a half hour, is not a cheap fix. The transportation costs associated with changing to a later start time district wide would total $4 million each year. Less costly would be switching high school and middle schools to the 8:30 a.m. start time, and having elementary students begin at 7:30 a.m. But even that would come with a yearly additional price tag of $1 million.

However, Hertzog pointed out that several area school districts have changed school start times without having such large budget impacts. Both UnionvilleChadds Ford and Phoenixville Area School Districts have recently moved to later start times.

If the Owen J. Roberts School Board does decide to start school later, the change won’t happen right away. For budgeting purposes, the district would not implement any change until the 2020-21 school year, according to Director of Pupil Services Richard Marchini.