School Start Time Committee

Considers Wilton Model

By Dottie Evans

The newly created School Start Time Committee has been researching relevant medical information regarding adolescent sleep cycles. It has heard testimony from the medical professionals, and it is considering the possibility that later start times for older students would prove more beneficial academically.

On Monday night, the committee heard from a neighboring school system, Wilton Public Schools, about that system’s recent decision to switch its middle and high school start time (previously at 7:30 am) with its intermediate level start time (8:15 am). Wilton intermediate schools are grades 3, 4, and 5.

This change, initiated at the beginning of the 2003–04 school year, means that older students in Wilton are now starting their school day 45 minutes later than they have previously done.

So far, according to Wilton Transportation Director James Crofts, “the feedback has been positive.”

“We had hoped that no child would have to be picked up earlier than 7 am, but that simply did not prove possible. When we moved the earliest pickup time back to 6:50 am, it worked,” Mr Crofts said.

As for academic results of the change, he said the feedback is “anecdotal” at this stage, adding that educators would be watching for a trend over a period of time.

 “As the change was made, it was important for us to get the information out to the parents immediately about their children’s buses –– as to exact arrival and departure times,” he added.

To facilitate this process, Wilton posted the bus times every day on its website so parents would have instant access to the information.

“This was a great help. We found that consistency [in timing] made parents more comfortable.”

 Wilton Gains Consensus For Change

Wilton, with a population of 17,633, has 4,000 students, where Newtown, with its population of more than 25,000, has 5,000 students. Newtown (60 square miles) is more than twice the size of Wilton (26 square miles).

Yet, the two school systems share a similar socioeconomic profile and are both struggling with rapid growth and traffic issues. The struggle to provide an optimum educational environment is an ongoing concern for both municipalities. Realizing this, Newtown’s School Start Committee felt that much could be learned from Wilton’s experience.

“This issue [of school start times] is out there. It is percolating through all the school systems,” Mr Crofts noted.

He added that he believes Wilton is the first system in the state that has acted upon the medical research on sleep patterns by actually switching around its school start times.

It was an issue, he said, that Wilton’s school administration had taken on quite early in the process, and there had been many communitywide forums and surveys of every family conducted before a recommendation was made.

“The process of information gathering took nearly a year, and we were able to make the change this fall,” he said.

Newtown may not have time to act on any decision for change during the current school year, committee members said. If a consensus opinion can be reached, a recommendation to the Newtown Board of Education would have to precede any change.

Like Wilton, Newtown schools operate on a three-tier bus schedule. This year both middle and high schoolers are arriving at school by 7:10 am and must be ready to start their first class at 7:30 am.

Elementary-age children do not board their buses to go home until 3:22 pm, and they may not be arriving at their doors until well after 4 pm –– at dusk or in darkness.

During its next meeting December 4, the School Start Committee will consider the possible effects of changing the high school schedule on athletics and extracurricular events. It will also begin a roundtable discussion among members.