NEWTON, MA — Amid the pandemic, Newton High School students have pushed back the start of classes to 9:15 a.m. That trend is set to stick beyond the pandemic, after the School Committee voted in favor of a plan for students to begin classes at 9 a.m.
The plan, which comes after years of discussion on a later start time for students, would mean elementary and middle schools would start 10 minutes earlier than they have been.
The new schedule has been approved for use through collective bargaining with the Newton Teacher's Association, according to Toby Romer, assistant superintendent for secondary education and special programs.
"The final step in the process is to complete collective bargaining with the NTA to shift our elementary start times 10 minutes earlier," Romer said.
Romer said both families and students have expressed overwhelming support for later start times, as well as faculty members.
"Our high schools have had the experience with later times this year and feedback has been positive," he said. "We are working to address concerns raised by the later end times for athletics and extracurricular activities, and have different plans in place to help minimize the impact on out of school time events."
Previously: Newton To Cut 50 Minutes From School Day For High School
In 2017, the Newton School Committee adopted the goal of pushing the high school start times later in response to surveys that show older students learn better with more sleep and later start times. Logistically, however, the move could not be made without a dramatic ripple effect on forecast transportation costs, delays in after-school activities and traffic concerns in the neighborhoods surrounding schools, according to the district. So they worked on ways to mitigate those disruptions through additional discussions with students, staff and the community, as well as a traffic study. In April 2019, the schedule proposals were narrowed to three deemed feasible.
Before the pandemic, Newton South began school at 7:40 a.m., and North started at 7:50 a.m.
The pandemic gave the district a trial run of sorts on a later schedule: Both schools begin at 9:15 a.m., and end at 3:55 p.m.
Both high schools will start classes at 9 a.m. beginning this fall under the new plan. School will let out at 3:45 p.m. except Tuesdays, for dismissal scheduled at 3:25 p.m., according to the school department.
Not everyone was pleased with a dismissal after 3 p.m.. Shara Ertel told the school committee May 10 that while she was for the later start times, she was disappointed that the district did not abide by earlier plans to dismiss students no later than 3 p.m.
Elementary schools are set to start at 8:10 a.m., and let out at 2:50 p.m., except for early dismissal days.
The topic starts at 2:30 below, courtesy of NewTV:
Newton School Committee May 10, 2021 from NewTV Government on Vimeo.
Jenna Fisher is a news reporter for Patch. Got a tip? She can be reached at Jenna.Fisher@patch.com or by calling 617-942-0474. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram (@ReporterJenna). Have a something you'd like posted on the Patch? Here's how.
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