West Chester probes delayed school start
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How much is getting more sleep for students worth?
Giving West Chester Area School District students extra sleep might cost from $3.2 to $6.5 million dollars more per year depending on which scenario the district uses.
Extra school bus drivers would need to be hired to get kids to school since the district would no longer be able to use the same bus driver runs.
The average homeowner’s tax bill might go up at least $78 annually, or 1.7 percent.
Superintendent Dr. Jim Scanlon said that the district is tasked with shuttling private, parochial and charter school students, which will be costly for the school district.
Phoenixville Area School District Board member Lisa Longo said such a policy is “ridiculous.” PASD recently pushed back the start time.
Since the tax jump would exceed the Act 1 Index, a voter referendum would need to be passed to raise taxes.
“Ultimately, at this point in our work, it appears that transportation costs … are a significant barrier for our district,” wrote Scanlon in a Dec. 4 letter to parents, students and community members.
“As you may know, several school districts around our region and the country are moving to later start times for their middle and high schools,” Jim Scanlon, schools superintenldieknet tshaied AinmaerreilceaanseA. “cMada-jor medical organizations emy of Pediatrics have called for schools to make this shift. Research shows we have a nation of sleepdeprived teenagers because they simply are not biologically programmed to go to bed early enough to get adequate sleep for early school start times.”
Scanlon said the research is in.
“Our nation’s medical experts feel the lack of sleep our teens receive is negatively impacting their physical and mental health and safety. Waking a teen up at 6 a.m. is like waking an adult up at 4 a.m.”
Start times at 8:30 a.m. or later are associated with less sleepiness, fewer symptoms of depression, increased academic performance, less tardiness and fewer car accidents, reads daidsitsrtricicttspohsat.ve already
Several other local school pushed back start times. Those neighboring school districts are smaller, with lower transportation costs for a variety of reasons, including the number of private, parochial and charter school bused students, Scanlon said.
Unionville-Chadds Ford School District moved high school start times from 7:35 a.m. to 8 a.m., with the day’s end at 2:43 p.m. When students were asked by a teacher what the district could do to improve, they chose start times.
“We made a modest change and it made a big difference,” said Unionville Chadds Ford School District Superintendent Dr. John Sanville. It has exceeded expectations and positive responses out-pace negative
10 to 1.” SchInoorlegDairsdtrsictto ecsotsimt: aTtehde Unionville Chadds Ford the cost was approximately
$40,000 in transportation expenditures for nonpublic school students. However, the District was able to manage routes to alleviate the anticipated cost impact.
Sanville is on the Board of Governors for PASA (Pennsylvania Association of School Administrators) and is a leading voice on the
Start School Later initiative in Pennsylvania.
A task force was assembled to evaluate the impact on West Chester Area School District students, parents, staff and transportation costs, and a final report will go the school board in March. The task force first met in July.
The following is a summary of the task force work from December:
• K-12 Parent survey results in April 2019 showed
70 percent support starting secondary schools later with 19 percent needing more information;
• Secondary school student survey responses in April showed 62 percent support starting schools later with 14 percent needing more information;
• Staff survey results in April 2019 showed 48 percent support starting secondary schools later with
23 percent needing more information.
The following comments received via the website were reviewed:
• Fourteen comments were received making suggestions on what to consider in the process such as after school activities, cost, impact on clubs, daycare schedules, etc.;
• Thirteen comments were received in favor of later start times for secoonf dteaerynsstiusdecnletasr, saanyidngthraetsearch about the biology we need to do this for the health of students. Also that the district will be able to adjust to the change;
• 15 were received in opposition of later start times for secondary students, saying later start times will not prepare them for adult life, will negatively impact family schedules, and that students will just waste more
time at night.
Parameters for the task force work were reviewed. They include:
• Do not start elementary schools significantly earlier;
• Analyze three scenarios in which secondary schools start later;
• Any recommended changes will not take place until fall, 2021.
American Pediatric Association recommends that secondary schools start no earlier than 8:30 a.m. Research from districts that have changed times found:
• Teens do get more sleep if schools start even as little as 30 minutes later;
• Absenteeism is reduced and graduation rates increase;
• Students and families report feeling less stressed;
• Teen car accident rates are reduced;
• Standardized tests scores and grades increase.
West Chester high schools currently start at 7:30 a.m. and middle schools at either 7:30 a.m. or 8:05 a.m.
Five options have been analyzed and impacts of each option have been considered. Transportation costs are the largest issue with all five scenarios. The annual costs for each are:
• Option 1 – Middle school start at 8:05, High school at 8:30, and elementary at 9:10 - $4.1 million;
• Option 2- all secondary at 8:15; elementary at
8:40 and 9:10 - $4.5 million;
• Option 3 - all secondary start at 8:30, all elementary at 9:10 - $6.8 million;
• Option 4 – all secondary at 8 a.m., split elementary starts at 8:40 and 9:10 – $4.2 million;
• Option 5 – Stetson and Peirce MS at 7:30 a.m., Fugett MS and all high schools at 8:05 a.m., split elementary starts at 8:40 and 9:10 – $3.2 million. Next Step:
• Task force to consider alternative scenarios/options to see if there is another way to adjust times at a lower cost.
“We want to ensure that our students, parents, staff, School Board members, and school community members have a lot of information, involvement, and input,” Scanlon said. “We’re creating a page on our website to store information related to this initiative, and we’ll be emailing updates.”
Start times at 8:30 a.m. or later are associated with less sleepiness, fewer symptoms of depression, increased academic performance, less tardiness and fewer car accidents, reads the district post.
Dr. John Sanville, superintendent at UnionvilleChadds Ford School District, said pushing back start times, now in the second school year, has been a success.
Students were first advocate for change.
“If you listen to the students they will tell you,” Sanville said. “It’s an unabashed success.
“It’s made a difference. Our kids are sleeping more and they are more alert when they are at school.”
Sanville also noted, with a smile, that during the 90-year history of the district, students had nabbed three state championships. During the first year with later start times, students to doubled the total and won three more state championships.
The WCASD program might start as early as Fall
2021.
“If we had unlimited funds, I would do it tomorrow,” Scanlon said.
So why wait?
“I would rather take the time and do it right — methodically,” Scanlon said.
The school board will make a final decision, likely in the Spring of
2020.
The district website lists some challenges:
• The change in start times will require more buses. Transportation costs will also escalate because the district must still provide transportation to non-public schools that may not be on the same schedule as our schools;
• Scheduling secondary after-school sports and activities can be challenging, though an increasing number of local schools are accommodating later times;
• Staff may need to adjust day care management and hours;
• Parents may need to adjust day care management and work schedules;
• Students may need to adjust their working hours for after-school jobs.
Currently, elementary school attendance times in the district are on two tiers: East Bradford, East Goshen, Exton, and Glen Acres are 8:40 a.m. to 3:10 p.m. while Fern Hill, Hillsdale, Mary C. Howse, Penn Wood, Starkweather, and Westtown-Thornbury elementary schools are 9:10 a.m. to 3:40 p.m.
Peirce and Stetson Middle Schools are 8:05 a.m. to 2:50 p.m. Fugett Middle School, and East, Henderson, and Rustin High Schools are 7:30 a.m. to 2:15 p.m.
This four-tier system of attendance times was created in 2012 to save money in transportation costs as fewer buses would be needed.
According to the website, a task force, comprised of students, staff, and parents, will consider several options, including an 8:05, 8:15, and 8:30 a.m. start time for middle and high schools. The district does not currently have a scenario in which it would move any elementary start times earlier than 8:40 a.m. The district would either maintain or tweak
elementary times. These options, to be considered by the committees, are just beginning points for discussion and may be adjusted, reads the release.
Several Henderson High School students addressed the issue during a video shown at an event to talk about the change. They wondered how after school activities would fare, said there were a lot of high schoolers drinking coffee and some skipped breakfast in a bid to get more snooze time.
A benefit listed by students was better prepared and more physically prepared students.
“Oh gosh, I can’t do everything in one day,” one student said into the camera.
During a question- andanswer period, most in the audience of about 100 who asked questions seemed to desire that start times begin next year rather than the following year.
The district is forming a task force with four subcommittees to study this. The subcommittees are: impact on staff; impact on students; impact on parents; and transportation costs and traffic analysis.
Email: starttimes@ wcasd.net to ask questions or provide feedback.
The WCASD program might start as early as Fall 2021.
The school board will make a final decision, likely in the Spring of 2020.
The district website lists some challenges:
Currently, elementary school attendance times in the district are on two tiers: East Bradford, East Goshen, Exton, and Glen Acres are 8:40 a.m. to 3:10 p.m. while Fern Hill, Hillsdale, Mary C. Howse, Pennwood, Starkweather, and Westtown-Thornbury are 9:10 a.m. to 3:40 p.m. Peirce and Stetson Middle Schools are 8:05 a.m. to 2:50 p.m. Fugett Middle School, and East, Henderson, and Rustin High Schools are 7:30 a.m. to 2:15 p.m.
A benefit listed by students was better prepared and more physically prepared students.
“Oh gosh, I can’t do everything in one day,” one student said into the camera.
During a question- andanswer period, most in the audience of about 100 who asked questions seemed to desire that start times begin next year rather than the following year.