Trustees Request Feedback About HISD's Proposal to Change Start and End Times for Almost All HISD Campuses
Parker PTO
Details About Proposed Start/End Time Changes
The proposed school changes will affect schedules for most of the 204,000 HISD students, their families, teachers, principals and supporting businesses with one exception, Apollo 20 schools – Apollo start and end times will not change. For all other high schools the HISD proposal starts the day at 7:45 am, for middle schools an 8:45 start, and for elementary either 7:30 am or 8:30 am starts. Some schools will lose instructional time during the day – less time on task - while other schools will find their school day longer. End times for high school are proposed for 3:15 pm, middle school 4:15 and elementary either 2:45 or 3:45 depending on the school. I have attached the proposed start and end times for convenience. If a school has only a few bus riders they are not able to be exempted because the proposed cost savings involve all buses servicing at least two schools and running two routes according to HISD’s transportation department. (Schedules attached)
Consequences
Some of the issues we have heard so far during HISD meetings, from single parent households, working families with multiple siblings, and two parent households who drive their children to school include the following:
- Health and safety issues with earlier start times for high school students (see a sampling of research articles listed below)
- Childcare coverage issues since younger siblings may start school after older siblings
- Work schedule issues for parents due to lack of flexible work hours
- Fewer after school offerings due to new scheduling issues with after school child care programs
- Lack of transportation of younger siblings to and from schools - also with external day care providers
- Safety and supervision issues for younger children - last to go to school
- Safety and supervision issues for middle and high school students - first to get out of school
- Ability to participate in non-school based competitive sports (gymnastics, swimming) or third party enrichment activities scheduled to begin before school is out or overlapping in the morning with earlier start times.
Email Addresses and Contact Information
According to parents in attendance at a recent HISD meeting, Dr. Grier’s Chief of Staff indicated that this proposal will be coming forward to the Board of Trustees for a board vote in the very near future although nothing is scheduled at this time. Again, the estimated cost savings according to HISD is less than one tenth of one percent of the budget.
By e-mail
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Board Services Office boards...@houstonisd.org District I Anna Eastman aeas...@houstonisd.org District II Carol Galloway cgal...@houstonisd.org District III Manuel Rodriguez mrod...@houstonisd.org District IV Paula Harris phar...@houstonisd.org District V Michael L. Lunceford mlun...@houstonisd.org District VI Greg Meyers gme...@houstonisd.org District VII Harvin Moore hmo...@houstonisd.org District VIII Juliet K. Stipeche jsti...@houstonisd.org District IX Lawrence Marshall lmar...@houstonisd.org |
Also, please copy Nathan Graff who heads up HISD Transportation Department
By telephone
Board Services 713-556-6121
Constituent Services 713-556-6111
A Sampling of Research
Given that HISD is a “data-driven” and “research based” organization and that “student learning” is the main thing, we figured there must be some pretty compelling research out there to justify these changes given how many students and families will be impacted up against the minor cost savings. Here is a sampling of what we found.
“In summary, along with strong psychosocial influences, changes in bioregulatory systems controlling sleep may limit teenagers. capacities to make adequate adjustment to an early school schedule. Imposition of an early school start time may require unrealistic. if not unattainable bedtimes to provide adequate time for sleeping. Our study clearly showed that early school start times for adolescents were associated with significant sleep deprivation. The consequences of insufficient sleep in adolescents are substantial. Excessive sleepiness of the degree documented here can be associated with performance decrements, memory lapses, and mood changes, 57-59 as well as behavior problems. In susceptible young people, this pattern may lead to academic, behavioral, and psychological problems, as well as increased risk for accidents and injuries, particularly for teenaged automobile drivers.”
Sleep deprivation may be undermining teen health
Lack of sufficient sleep--a rampant problem among teens--appears to put adolescents at risk for cognitive and emotional difficulties, poor school performance, accidents and psychopathology, research suggests.
http://www.apa.org/monitor/oct01/sleepteen.aspx
Two Minneapolis-area school districts decided to shift secondary school start times to 8:30 a.m. or later based on emerging medical research showing adolescents have a natural sleep pattern that leads to a late-to-bed, late-to-rise cycle. Medical researchers found this cycle is part of the maturation of the endocrine system. From the onset of puberty until late teen years, the brain chemical melatonin, which is responsible for sleepiness, is secreted from approximately 11 p.m. until approximately 8 a.m., nine hours later. This secretion is based on human circadian rhythms and is rather fixed. In other words, typical youth are not able to fall asleep much before 11 p.m. and their brains will remain in sleep mode until about 8 a.m., regardless of what time they go to bed.
How sleep impacts education
These adolescent sleep patterns can have profound consequences for education. With classes in most high schools in the United States starting at around 7:15 a.m., high school students tend to rise at about 5:45 or 6 a.m. in order to get ready and catch the bus. It’s no wonder that 20 percent of students sleep during their first two hours of school, when their brains and bodies are still in a biological sleep mode. The loss of adequate sleep each night also results in a “sleep debt” for most teens. Teens who are sleep-deprived or functioning with a sleep debt are shown to be more likely to experience symptoms such as depression, difficulty relating to peers and parents, and are more likely to use alcohol and other drugs.
Additional data from the study done in Minneapolis schools showed that there was a significant reduction in school dropout rates, less depression, and students reported earning higher grades.
http://www.cehd.umn.edu/research/highlights/Sleep/default.html
One way that some schools respond to this problem of student sleep deficits is by starting later in the day. The purpose of this article is to review research on sleep patterns and discuss the reasons researchers, parents, educators, and students choose to support or oppose later school starting times. Because teenagers' sleep needs differ greatly from those of younger children and adults, much of the research focuses on adolescent sleep needs and patterns. However, the insights offered may be of interest to families with children of all ages. This article concludes with tips from sleep researchers regarding things that parents and teenagers can do to improve the quality and quantity of adolescent sleep.
http://library.adoption.com/articles/should-teens-sleep-in-new-choices-in-school-starting-times.html
"Given that the primary focus of education is to maximize human potential, then a new task before us is to ensure that the conditions in which learning takes place address the very biology of our learners."
Mary A. Carskadon, PhD, Director of E.P. Bradley Hospital Research Laboratory and professor in Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior at Brown University School of Medicine
http://www.sleepfoundation.org/article/hot-topics/backgrounder-later-school-start-times