Athletic Director Reviews

Early Start-Time’s Impact On Sports

By Larissa Lytwyn

Newtown High School Athletic Director Gregg Simon discussed the potential impact of earlier school start times on sports during the School Start Time Committee’s December 4 meeting.

Much of Mr Simon’s presentation was based on conversations with Christy Hayes, Athletic Director for Wilton High School, as well as Newtown High School Athletic Department members and Fairfield County Interscholastic Athletic Conference (FCIAC) and Southwestern Conference (SWC) officials.

This year Wilton schools implemented a later start schedule in which high school students have an 8:15 am to 2:30 pm school day.

“The earliest Wilton school athletic bus runs begin at 3:15 pm,” said Mr Simon. The maximum travel distance, with exceptions for non-Fairfield County Interscholastic Athletic Conferences (FCIAC) games, is 45 minutes. Wilton athletes are occasionally released from class early, particularly for league and state tournament games.

“Generally, the FCIAC has been very cooperative with Wilton’s new system,” Mr Simon said. Frustrations occasionally arose, however, when pressure mounted to start games in a timely fashion, particularly with fall season games running short of daylight.

“Not all of the fields we play at have lights,” Mr Simon said. Some Wilton athletes, he said, have complained that they didn’t have much practice time prior to a game.

School Start Committee member Wendy Leon-Gambetta, a Newtown parent, asked if practice times could take place in the morning.

Mr Simon said that although teams such as swimming occasionally rise for early practices, there is often a lack of light and facilities available.

The suggestion also eliminates the benefit of a later school start time.

While Wilton athletes generally like “to sleep late,” noted Mr Simon, they do complain of feeling “rushed” in getting to the athletic bus on time.

He added that Newtown’s owner-operator bus system is “tailor-made” for the district. “We have one of the best, if not the best, transportation systems in the state,” he said.

It was still important to consider, he warned, that even a strong transportation system could not alleviate delays caused by construction, accidents, or natural elements.

The committee thanked Mr Simon for his comments and requested further information on acquiring “hard data” for Newtown schools to study.

“Remember, Wilton’s school system is about a year ahead of us in this [endeavor],” reminded Superintendent of Schools Evan Pitkoff. Wilton officials studied the benefits and possible disadvantages of later start times for several months before preparing to implement a change.

Dr Pitkoff suggested that more time be taken to analyze the issue before implementing any definitive changes.

Newtown Middle School Principal Diane Sherlock, also a committee member, agreed there was no need to “rush” any decisions.

Committee member Dr Deborah Pollack-Wollman, a physician specializing in neurology and sleep medicine, asked if it was possible to consider shifting the schedule to 2002–03 start times.

However, committee member Lisa Schwartz, recently elected vice chairman of the Board of Education, said that going back to the old system might raise “economic concerns.”

“Wasn’t the [three-tier] system changed because it didn’t work well, either?” asked committee member Deborah Zukowski.

Ms Leon-Gambetta agreed that there had been routing and other problems with the three-tier system and that the issues facing the committee were complex.

“I would be very uncomfortable if we had to make a definitive [decision] by February,” said committee member Candi Dietter, Newtown High School’s Social Studies Department chairman.

“Our recommendation can simply be to have more time before we make any solid changes,” said Dr Pitkoff.

The next School Start Time Committee meeting is Monday, January 15, at 7 pm, in Canaan House. Newtown Middle School principal Diane Sherlock and Middle Gate Elementary School principal Judy Gallo will present information on attendance and academic records relating to this year’s school start time changes.