School start time study continues

Posted by Rich Schwartzman on February 9, 2016

Last year, high school students from Unionville High and other schools throughout Chester County began researching the effects of a later start time for high school classes.

On Feb. 8, members of the Unionville-Chadds Ford School Board were updated on the research from two of the UHS students involved in the study.

Matt Daniels and Alice Liu have been leading a countywide student forum examining school start times for secondary students. According to Daniels and Liu, high school students do better when their school day starts later.

“The benefits are pretty clear,” Liu told the board. “Later start times lead to decreased tardiness, increased academic performance, and increased attentiveness in class.”

Daniels added that their research shows car accidents among high school student drivers drop by 50 percent when teens get extra sleep. He said a delayed start time of no more than 30 minutes could make a big difference.

UHS classes currently start at 7:30 a.m., and the study is looking at a start time of 8:30 a.m., which is the start time for elementary schools in the district.

Liu added that the study is now focusing on obstacles that schools would face in order to implement the change. Those challenges include changing bus schedules and determining how a change in start time would affect after-school activities and would impact younger students and families.

“What we found is that very few extracurricular issues would come up when delaying start time because small 30- to 45-minute delays don’t impact participation,” Liu said, “and these delays are manageable by districts.”

Some districts, she said as an example, schedule athletes for a gym class for their last period and give them early dismissal for games.

The forum participants have gotten information from an outside research firm and talked with the Lower Merion School District, which has also been researching the issue.

Daniels said the student forum hopes to have a plan for implementation sometime this spring, a plan they will present to the Chester County Board of Education.

“Hopefully, by then we’ll have a plan that everyone will find suitable because we do see that it’s important to push back the school start times. However, we want to do it in a way that’s effective for students, faculty and also works for the community as a whole,” he said.

Daniels also explained that the research shows it’s not just a matter of having high school students go to bed earlier. He said it’s a matter of the students’ circadian rhythm. Their body chemistry won’t let them get to sleep earlier.

School Board Vice President Jeff Hellrung has been in favor of the change from the beginning. He said during the board’s Feb. 8 work session that physicians’ groups — including the American Association of Pediatricians — have recommended such a change and that he’s pleased with the progress the students are making in their research.

Board President Vic Dupuis asked whether the change would be to just start high school later or if the start times for high school and elementary schools would flip. That, the students said, is still to be determined.

Dupuis added that the case for starting high school classes later is compelling and that “the benefits have been validated.”

Director Steve Simonson said the challenge is not in justifying the change, but in implementing it.

Superintendent John Sanville said there would be a discussion with parents once the students’ final plan is presented.

“At that point, we would have an idea whether or not we’re going to pursue this as a lone entity, or whether we’re going to pursue this as a county ... Both of those options are on the table,” he said.

(Photo: UHS students Matt Daniels and Alice Liu address the Unionville-Chadds Ford School Board on their research regarding delayed start times for high schools students. School Board Director John Murphy looks on.)

About Rich Schwartzman

Rich Schwartzman has been reporting on events in the greater Chadds Ford area since September 2001 when he became the founding editor of The Chadds Ford Post. In April 2009 he became managing editor of ChaddsFordLive. He is also an award-winning photographer.