The Board of Education approved a charge at its Tuesday, March 7, meeting for the superintendent to create a School Start Time Committee to research the possibility of changing school start times for either the 2017-18 or 2018-19 school year, depending on when the final decision is made.

According to the approved charge, the goal of the committee will be "to research the possibilities of changing school schedules based on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and American Academy of Pediatrics recommendation that middle and high schools start at 8:30 am or later."

Board members also spoke about potentially scheduling two public hearings, one at the start of the committee's work and one at the end.

The charge includes having the committee complete a report for the school board by June 1. The report is expected to include, according to the charge, "research of medical and educational recommendations by age group, regional/national recent adoptions/drops of start time programs, and results of a community survey; discussion of impact on sports, child care, and after-school activities including part-time employment; scenarios for transportation options including possible tier changes, detailing ride length and financial impact; [and] review contracts with [district] unions and vendors to make sure there will be no financial impact or ramifications with those contracts as a result of changing school start times."

Superintendent of Schools Joseph V. Erardi, Jr, is tasked to facilitate the committee and make sure the committee includes district staff, representatives of the school board, and representatives of the community.

"I think there is a whole bunch of work that needs to be done, but really it is something that, I think, has to be jump started at the start of the year," said Dr Erardi. "So it's either August of [2017] or August of [2018]."

Dr Erardi said he hopes to finalize selection of School Start Time Committee members before March 17.

The charge was approved by the school board unanimously.