Officials from the Bellevue and Mercer Island School Districts have recommended to the Bellevue School District Board that they move the high school start time to 8:30 a.m. beginning in Fall 2016.
Deputy Superintendent of Instructional Leadership Eva Collins presented the report to the board on Tuesday, June 23. Collins and the 12 person committee charged with conducting a study of the potential benefits and challenges of a later start time found that shifting the current bell schedules, start and end times is feasible and that the community supported it.
“Ultimately, we could see that there was significant support for a later start time,” said Collins.
Around 11,500 people responded to and approximately 3,000 people commented on an online survey. Around 60 percent of those surveyed opposed the existing 7:30 start time, while 71.3 percent and 74.3 percent supported a 8:00 a.m. and 8:30 a.m. start, respectively.
The committee met with parties that would potentially be affected the change during their recommendation process, but how a later start time would specifically impact after-school sports, transportation, lower-income families and other groups will be addressed by a working group.
As the Reporter previously reported, the school board began considering a later start time for high school students last year, and formed a steering committee in October.
Superintendent Tim Mills, who previously worked for a school district in Oregon that had a later start time, said he saw the benefits of a later class schedule, including higher grade-point averages and more alert students.
The American Academy of Pediatrics released a statement in August 2014 recommending high schools delay the start of class to 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,” said pediatrician Judith Owens, MD, FAAP, lead author of the policy statement, “School Start Times for Adolescents,” published in the September 2014 issue of Pediatrics.
The board plans to vote on the high school start time in September, after which point the working group would iron out the logistics. If approved in the fall, students and families could see implementation by Fall 2016.
