The School Board’s

Cost/Detriment Calculation

To the Editor:

The middle school students in our school district have to report to class one hour earlier than the students in the elementary and intermediate schools. This is not because of after school extracurricular activities, as is the case in the high school. It is because of the additional cost that would be incurred by not combining the high school and middle school buses.

There is no doubt that middle school children would greatly benefit with an extra hour of sleep. Several studies have been done on this subject and the conclusive evidence shows that overstimulated, overscheduled kids are getting at least one hour less sleep than they need. Research has revealed that this is a deficiency that has the power to set their cognitive abilities back years. Some would argue that the solution is to get the kids to bed at 8 pm, but as most parents would attest, this is problematic with other scheduled activities such as religion classes, etc.

The school board, in its wisdom, has determined that the cost savings realized by combining bus routes outweighs the benefit of later start times for 12- and 13-year-old children. At the same time, they seem to have no problem with spending $447,000 on a greenhouse for the high school. I may be missing something here, but I believe the school board needs to reevaluate its priorities. My preference would be to have my granddaughter awake and alert during her two-year tenure in the middle school, rather than her opportunity to grow some tulips in the high school.

George Caracciolo

Schoolhouse Hill Road, Newtown                     September 13, 2010