School Start Time Committee

Prepares Parent Assessment

By Larissa Lytwyn

A soon-to-be-released School Start Time Assessment designed by a School Start Time Committee subgroup seeks families’ insight on the relationship between their children and some of the dramatic schedule changes caused by last fall’s transition from a four to three-tier transportation system.

While third-tier Head O’ Meadow, Sandy Hook and Middle Gate Elementary Schools currently begin at 9:10 am, an hour or more later than last year, first tier Newtown Middle School starts the day with Newtown High School at 7:30 am.

Middle-tier Reed Intermediate and Hawley Elementary School, along with St Rose, Fraser Woods and Housatonic Valley Technical School, faced less dramatic schedule modifications.

  The subgroup, comprised of parents Barbara Bloom, Deborra Zukowski and Wendy Leon-Gambetta, sought to produce an assessment that could yield objective research for the committee.

  Parents would be asked to submit one assessment per child.

  Questions include reflections on whether this year’s schedule is “more or less beneficial for their child.”

    The assessment also asks parents to list their child’s extracurricular activities, including sports and job commitments, as well as the “maximum daily number of hours” their child may be at home without an adult after-school.

   The assessments will be sent home and returned (names optional) through each child’s school according to a yet-to-be-determined deadline.

   After discussing the design and potential implementation of the assessment, Superintendent of Schools Evan Pitkoff, Committee ex officio, asked each member to express his or her opinion on the start times issue.

While the committee is not expected to propose a recommendation (or series of recommendations) for implementation this fall due to time constraints, the committee is expected to present their opinions to the Board of Education this spring.

  Ms Gambetta, a longtime proponent of start times being fashioned according to child and adolescent physiology, said the schools, ideally, should “abandon their current schedules.”

Saying the changed start times did not directly affect students’ health or academic performance, she added, was akin to discouraging a healthy diet because the person was not overweight.

Dr Debra Pollack-Wollman, a sleep expert, said that one recommendation she would make was that no student be expected to wait for the bus prior to 6:20 am.

Newtown High School student representative Greg Gordan said he appreciated the extra afternoon time the current high school schedule allows.

“It definitely helps fulfill sports and job obligations,” he said.

He expressed uncertainty, however, over the scheduling fates of Reed Intermediate and Newtown Middle School.

Several Committee members asked Transportation Director Tony DiLonardo whether it would be feasible to construct a one or two tier system.

Mr DiLonardo replied that he was impressed with the effectiveness of the current three-tier system, particularly considering the large number of miles requiring coverage.

“I don’t see us changing [to a one or two tier] system right now,” Mr DiLonardo said.