Participating in an “Adolescent Health and School Start Times: Science and Strategies” workshop at Trinity College in Hartford on October 16 gave Board of Education Chair Michelle Embree Ku, Newtown High School Assistant Principal David Roach, and NHS teacher Trent Harrison a chance to reflect on Newtown’s changed school start times.

According to an announcement for the event from Trinity College, the workshop was intended to provide school officials and educators strategies for implementing a change in school start times. The workshop included presentations and breakout sessions.

After participating in the event, Ms Ku said the day’s main presentation offered information on sleep research and implementation strategies. She attended a different breakout session than Mr Roach and Mr Harrison, and she spoke about the “Newtown experience” with her group.

“It was a really good reminder to me of the public health issue,” said Ms Ku.

After the school district looked at sleep study research and changing school start times in the winter of 2016, the school board implemented new school start times for the 2017-18 school year.

Ms Ku said she spoke about how Newtown made the decision to change school start times to allow older students more time to sleep in the morning and how Newtown implemented that decision. Representatives from other districts that have implemented later school start times also attended and spoke at the event.

“The day was geared toward other districts trying to make the change,” Ms Ku explained.

Speaking about Newtown’s changed start times made her consider her own experience. Ms Ku said she made the decision to support changing school start times when she learned about the health benefits, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommendations, and research behind those recommendations. When it made the decision, Ms Ku said the district based the change on the health benefits of the students.

For her, the workshop offered the chance to see Newtown’s implementation of school start times from a different perspective. She said it helped her remember the “roadblocks” and how the district overcame hurdles.

“It really made me proud of the district, the community, and everyone who was involved in making the change,” she said.

At the end of the workshop, Ms Ku said people shared that they were inspired by Newtown’s story.

“It was very rewarding for the three of us to hear that,” said Ms Ku.

Both Ms Ku and Mr Roach addressed that the solutions the Newtown school district found for implementing the change may be different than what other towns experience.

Overall, Ms Ku said changing school start times to allow students to sleep is an important thing for students, and it is a change that impacts many of them.

‘Do What Is Best’

Mr Roach and Mr Harrison both participated in the breakout group, where they worked with principals and educators.

Sleep study research, Mr Roach said, pointed to high school starting at 8:30 am would be best for students, but he and Mr Harrison spoke about the studies and community input collected to determine Newtown’s start time of 8 am. It allows 40 minutes of extra sleep compared to Newtown’s former start times for NHS and Newtown Middle School, and it does not push afternoon extracurricular activities too late, he pointed out.

“We did what works best for us,” said Mr Roach, adding that he stressed with his breakout group that each community should do what is best for it.

He heard a number of people remark that Newtown’s experience sounded like a “great success,” but Mr Roach said he reminded people he spoke with that there were hurdles along the way. The process to change school start times included researching more than a dozen different schedules and different types of bus tiers. Newtown, he said, made the decision to benefit its students.

Many people at the workshop, Mr Roach commented, wanted data, but many of the changes from the decision are anecdotal. Using results from standardized tests to gauge the effects of the change can be difficult, Mr Roach said, as there are many other variables that effect test data.

When students arrive in the mornings at NHS, both Mr Roach and Mr Harrison said they are much more awake. Their smiles are bigger, Mr Roach shared, and there are more students who eat breakfast before attending school.

“And when the first period hits, they are active,” added Mr Roach.

Mr Harrison said the high school students are clearly “better” when arriving at school in the morning. He sees students who are fed, who are not easily irritated or grumpy, and students are alert. He has seen more students interacting in the morning rather than trying to “plow food” in the school’s cafeteria. He sees growing social skills.

For Mr Harrison, participating in the Trinity College workshop allowed him to share his experience as an educator, a Newtown Federation of Teachers representative, parent, and graduate of the school district.

“My biggest take away was seeing how many districts want to do it… They are all kind of waiting for someone else to go first,” said Mr Harrison.

From his experience, Mr Harrison said Newtown changing school start times has been a “win-win across the board.”

“I just think we as a community did what is best for our students, and [the community] should be proud of that,” said Mr Roach.