After hearing updates from its subgroups on April 24, the Board of Education's School Start Time Committee members spoke about potential transportation options if school times are altered.

The School Start Time Committee was formed after the Board of Education made a motion at its March 7 meeting for Superintendent of Schools Joseph V. Erardi, Jr, to form a committee "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."

The committee has been meeting regularly on Monday mornings to complete the charge and report back to the school board near the beginning of June. The committee was broken into subgroups to look at research, after school impacts, transportation tier options, and contractual implications.

According to the minutes from past committee meetings, All-Star Transportation Co-Owner Rich Dufour previously presented the group with options for the different tiers for bus routes. At the April 24 meeting, Mr Dufour offered a look at three options: Option 2A, Option 2C, and Option 4.

Option 2A and Option 2C both would have students transported to school in three tiers, or waves, of buses. Option 4 would use two tiers. For all three options, pros and cons were listed in a handout shared by Mr Dufour.

For Option 2A pros include a decrease in the number of buses needed with projected enrollment declines and little disruption to the current schedule. Newtown High School would start at 7:20 am, Newtown Middle School and Reed Intermediate School would start at 8:05 am, and elementary schools would begin at 9:05 am. Cons include an uncertainty around impacts to special education transportation.

Option 2C moved the times in Option 2A later by 30 minutes. NHS would start at 7:50 am, NMS and Reed would start at 8:35 am, and elementary schools would start at 9:35 am. Cons for this option include a projected last drop off time for elementary students at 4:55 pm and anticipated complications in winter.

For Option 4, NHS and NMS would start at 7:50 am, Reed would start at 8:55 am, and elementary schools would start at 9:05 am. Pros listed include moving the NHS and NMS start times later by 30 minutes, the least amount of disruption to after school activities, and the later school start time reduces the number of students waiting for a bus in the dark. Cons include a projected $40,000 to $62,000 additional cost for transportation, combining Reed students and elementary students on the same buses, which could lengthen ride times by 15 to 20 minutes, and buses would be closer to maximum capacity.

All of the options also examined the logistics and start times for local private schools and magnet schools to which Newtown students are also bused.

Dr Erardi said "at some point" the committee will have to begin to look at a "direction" before presenting a final presentation for the school board. The superintendent also said he plans to have committee members attend local PTA and faculty meetings in May to help share the news about the committee's work and hear feedback. Committee and Board of Education member John Vouros suggested inviting PTA representatives to attend committee meetings also.

With four committee meetings left before it is expected to report to the school board, Dr Erardi said he would like a consensus by the third week in May.

Before the committee comes to consensus, NHS Principal Lorrie Rodrigue said she would like all options, "not just transportation," to be looked at for potential changes to the school schedule.

Also at the meeting, NHS Assistant Principal David Roach and NHS science teacher Trent Harrison spoke about a student survey recently offered at NHS. NMS Principal Thomas Einhorn also said a version of the survey would be given at his school before the committee's next meeting.

To the question, "In an ideal world, what would be the best time for the school day?" roughly 45 percent of students said 8 am to 2:42 pm. Roughly 64 percent of students said sleep was their main reason for selecting a school start and end time in the previous question.

NHS had 921 students participate in the survey. Students also reported in the survey they would prefer 30 minutes to one hour more in the morning, and roughly 87 percent of students responded that they would "go to bed at the same time" if the school day began later.