Proposed New School Start/End Times

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As many of you are aware, there is an abundance of research supporting later school start times for middle and high school students.  This research also points to the overall student mental health and well-being of the students, which ultimately is a focus of our district goals.

To address this, the District formed a Bell Time Committee to research and explore what adjustments were needed to more closely align our start times with the research.  The committee presented the following recommendation to the Board of Education, at last night’s Board meeting. 

Committee’s Recommendation for Bell Times (Start/End Times):

              NM-Novi            HS-High           MS-Middle    Elem-Elementary
          Meadows         School        School                Buildings
Start     7:30am            8:00am            8:30am            9:00am
End      2:22pm            2:44pm            3:11pm            3:52pm

Committee’s Reasoning for Their Recommendation:
 
Advantages:
•    HS and MS has 45 min later start than 2019-20
•    NM dismissed ahead of elems; allows for older sibling to be home before younger
•    Provides current late-start elems an earlier start and dismissal than 2019-20
•    No impact to CARE or ECEC bell times
•    Equity among elementary start times
•    Maintains traffic flow on Taft (PV, NM, NW campus)
Drawbacks:
•    Does not align with research showing HS should start 8:30+
•    Dismissal times at NM and HS may be too close for routing
•    Concerns with younger students at early morning (dark) bus stops
•    Impact to athletics and after-school activities, but is manageable

 Here’s the “Why” behind this change:
1.    https://www.cdc.gov/features/school-start-times/index.html  

2.    https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/stumbling-towards-diversity/201910/school-start-times-and-teens-sleep-needs  

3.    https://www.washington.edu/news/2018/12/12/high-school-start-times-study/