Later school starts: More sleep, and traff ic?
Whether or not MiamiDade County Public Schools ultimately establishes later class start times, a complicated and controversial move, the process to make that determination already looks like the right one.
We commend School Board member Martin Karp for pushing to make this a district priority and Schools Superintendent Alberto Carvalho for planning to create a task force of inclusive and comprehensive voices that first must be heard.
Last week, the School Board gave the go-ahead to explore starting classes no earlier than 8 a.m.
Students in high school will be the most affected. Currently their school bell rings at 7:20 a.m. For elementary school students, it’s 8:20 to 8:30 a.m. Middle school starts at 9:10 a.m.
A main goal of the later start is to help teenage students get the sleep they need. Just ask any firstperiod high school teacher how many students are dead to the world during the first part of the school day. Studies back up the logic of later class starts, finding that students are more awake and better able to learn if they’ve gotten more sleep the night before. Later start times have been endorsed by the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Psychological Association, the American Medical Association and the National PTA.
We like the safety aspect of the shift. So many students would be spared walking to and waiting for the school bus in the morning’s dark. It’s a creepy time, and a more perilous one for young girls and boys. On the other end, later departure times could fuel a decrease in after-school crime.
The task force will have to tackle the ripple effect of any time change. Of course, a later start means a critical change in MiamiDade’s traffic patterns, as school buses and parents join the fray at a different time in the morning and at the end of the school day. Some schools might release students as late as 4:10 p.m., the height of afternoon traffic, already the bane of our existence.
After-school care and activities such as sports and clubs also will be affected, to say nothing of homework.
Carvalho told the Editorial Board he knows this is a controversial proposal, but that it has also been a persistent request from parents. “This is the one thing most asked of me: to allow high school students to start classes later,” he said.
On the table is the possibility that high schools and middle schools could start between 8:30 and 9:30. Elementary schools would start at 8 a.m.
Carvalho is taking the issue to the right people — us. The task force will come on board; there will be town halls. Last week, he asked for input on Facebook.
One parent responded to his request: “Getting out of school so late messes up the homework time and sports for the kids.
They can’t do both or they end up going to bed at 11 p.m. — the earliest.”
Another wrote: “I think it is a wonderful idea. It aligns better with our children’s biorhythms, extends the school day, which will reduce screen time and potential for danger and allows families to connect in the morning before they go to work and school.”
Carvalho says the traffic fears could be eased. The later start time offers a chance to take 40 buses off the road, or rerouted to transport students not served now.
Later class times aside, we urge Carvalho, the School Board and residents to make this process a true reflection of how this sometimes fractured community can work together, with respect, with civility, toward a common goal.
PARAGON OF VIRTUE?
After the impeachment hearings, we should be asking what does this say about Trump’s character and virtue?
Cicero, the Roman thinker, centuries ago was interested in exploring a statesman’s character, as the Roman Republic was in chaos.
As a result, he issued the following guide for measuring a leader’s character: Understanding and acknowledging truth; maintaining good fellowship with men, giving every one his due, and keeping faith in promises and contracts; greatness and strength of a lofty and unconquered mind; the order and measure that constitute moderation and temperance.
Trump fails all four principles.
Would he even know who Cicero was?
– Barry Rabinowitz,
Plantation