EDMONDS — The county’s largest school district could have later start times at its high schools next year, part of a national trend aimed at having teens get more sleep to be more alert in class.
There’s little debate that pushing back the start times for high schools can improve student health and academic performance. But as the Edmonds School District has quickly learned, it involves a number of issues, from increasing costs for transportation to conflicts with after-school jobs and athletics.
Switching high school start times also would mean changing when elementary and middle school students start their days, too, potentially affecting all of the district’s 20,000 students.
“It’s a very complex issue,” said Patrick Murphy, assistant superintendent for secondary schools. “The metaphor of an octopus with lots of legs is fitting. It’s not simple.”
The school district first began considering the change in 2007, but ultimately decided the disruption was not worth the cost, he said.
Now, the district is looking at the issue again and inviting the community to participate. The next meeting is scheduled from 6 to 8 p.m. Monday at the Educational Service Center, 20420 68th Ave. W in Lynnwood.
If adopted, the district would join schools across the nation switching to later start times for high school students. A website, Start School Later, has helped launch community groups interested in making the change.
A study by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that when the school day started at 8:35 a.m., close to 60 percent of high school students were getting at least eight hours of sleep.
Grades improved for 10th-, 11th-, and 12th-grade students when start times were moved from 8 a.m. or 8:15 to 8:30, according to information presented at a University of Minnesota Teens and Sleep conference in 2013.
There were other benefits as well. Parents at a school that had made the switch reported their kids were easier to live with. School staff reported fewer emotional and physical problems.
With the stack of research on the benefits of changing the start times increasing, members of the Edmonds School Board started getting asked by the community: What about us?
Currently, high schools start at 7:20 a.m., middle schools and some elementary schools at 8 a.m., other elementary schools start between 8:40 a.m. and 9:20 a.m., Murphy said.
Starting high school at 8:30 a.m. is “the sweet spot,” Murphy said.
In 2014, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommended that start times for middle and high school students should be delayed until 8:30 a.m. or later.
Chronic sleep loss in children and adolescents is one of the most common — and easily fixable — public health issues in the U.S. today, the organization said.
The Edmonds School District hopes to come up with a proposal to take to the community around the first of the year, with a goal of making the changes for 2017-18 school year.
Edmonds isn’t alone in discussing a change. The Northshore School District is considering a proposal to move back its high school start time by 25 minutes, to 7:45 a.m. Issaquah is considering a later start time next year. Seattle changed to an 8:45 a.m. start time at its high schools at the beginning of this school year.
Last spring, the Edmonds School District considered moving the high school start time to 8:40 a.m., Murphy said. That would have involved changing elementary start times to a much later schedule.
That proposal was essentially tossed out after a meeting last month. “We’re back to the drawing board,” Murphy said.
One of the problems in making school schedule changes involves transportation for the 8,000 students who ride school buses. If changing school start times increases ridership, it could mean a one-time expense of $1.2 million to buy new buses, an additional $500,000 per year in salary and benefits costs for bus drivers and an additional $36,000 in annual salary costs for cafeteria workers, Murphy said.
It also would complicate scheduling for after-school sports. A 3:10 p.m. dismissal time, for example, might cause athletes to miss fifth and sixth periods to compete against districts with earlier start times. “That’s a concern,” Murphy said.
Some students also worry that a change to a later dismissal time could complicate their after-school work schedules, Murphy said.
Some teachers have said they might not be able to coach or meet their own after-school schedules if the high school day ends later.
“Whatever proposal we come up with, it’s going to be seen by some as disruptive from what they’re used to,” Murphy said.
Many people would like to see high school students get more sleep and have their school day start later, he said. “What we’re trying to figure out is how do we do that?”
Sharon Salyer: 425-339-3486; salyer@heraldnet.com.
Public meetings
The Edmonds School District is considering later start and end times for its high schools. Community members interested in participating on the task force should contact Leslie Anderson at AndersonL@edmonds.wednet.edu or at 425-431-7094. Meetings are scheduled from 6 to 8 p.m. Monday, Nov. 14, and Dec. 1 at the Educational Service Center, 20420 68th Ave. W. in Lynnwood.
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