Even that change, however, may not meet the ideal schedule for sleep needs, Macechko said.
“Students benefit when school is in sync with their sleep needs,” she told the board outlining several months of study and research by the council done at the request of the board and Superintendent Kelly Spivey. “The council has worked for the past several months looking at what is called by some a chronic problem today, sleep deprivation and its health consequences.”
The Health Coordinating Council is proposing pushing the start time for the high school from 7:15 to 8 a.m. while the middle school start time would change from 7:30 to 8:15 a.m.
Final bell at the high school would then move from 2:20 to 3:05 p.m. while the middle school dismissal would change from 2:35 to 3:20 p.m.
Macechko offered a PowerPoint presentation with the final slide offering the health council’s recommendation for the later start times and adding this comment, “We are compelled to consider this for the health and safety of our students.”
She cited information from the National Sleep Foundation saying that adolescents need 8.5 to 9.25 hours of sleep each night and only about 9.2 percent get 8.5 hours of sleep. Studies show most teens get 6.75 hours of sleep a night.
She also cited information from the American Academy of Pediatrics showing that natural sleep cycles can shift up to two hours, making it difficult for teens to fall asleep before 11 p.m.
On the other end of the night, she noted that secretion of melatonin, which controls the need for sleep, does not stop until 7:30 a.m., which of course, is still not being accommodated by an 8 a.m. start to the school day.
Board Vice President Dr. Michael Crowder noted this in his comments following Macechko’s presentation.
“It looks from the scientific data, 8 may be too early,” Crowder said. “We will need to know what’s too late for parents. You’re going to have problems in the other end as well.”
Macechko acknowledged that and said the transportation department as well as principals are being included in the discussions.
Her presentation included a slide showing start times for high schools in the county, all of which are later than Talawanda’s current time. Edgewood High School starts the day at 8:10 a.m. with the Lakota high schools at 8:05 a.m. and Fairfield at 8 a.m. The others are Hamilton at 7:55 a.m., Madison at 7:42 a.m. and Monroe at 7:40 a.m.
The geographic size of the Talawanda district causes unique transportation issues. There are 144 square miles of area from which to transport students to single high school and middle school buildings.
“We are a unique district with our mileage,” Macechko said.
Residents and parents will also be consulted for their comments about the proposed change, which President Mark Butterfield said will be a requirement for the board’s consideration.
The president said the board will want to get parent response to the idea of changing the school start times as well as ideas from other districts which had taken the action. He also said they will need to know the impact on transporting students to Butler Tech and the parochial schools as well as possible impact on Talawanda athletic events with the school day pushed later.
Transportation Director Mike Sokol was in the audience and he said the Butler Tech and parochial routes would not be affected, but that more study will be needed on other issues arising from the proposal.
He said many students get rides to school other than on buses, but afternoon ridership is up by 10 percent. He noted they honor as many requests as possible for students to ride different buses such as to ride with a friend in order to work on a project together, but more of those requests must be turned down because of that rise in ridership on some routes.
“We can’t predict how many will take advantage (of riding buses) if we go to a later time,” Sokol said, adding that such special requests might be impacted further. “The public’s voice needs to be taken into consideration. Afternoon numbers are up. Greater ridership is often considerably up.”
He said they will need to also study the potential for similar ridership changes in the morning.
The other part of the discussion before any change is approved is the affect on elementary start times. Sokol said he has looked at it and believes it can be accomplished at the upper levels with no more than a five or 10 minute change, although that will need deeper study.
Macechko said that has been a concern all through the discussions.
“The council’s stance is that we want to make this happen, but it is important that it affect elementary schools as little as possible,” she said. “It will take time listening to the community and parents to see how they feel about it. We got the conversation started and got the green light to go further.”
Spivey closed the discussion saying, “The next step is to hear more from the community.”
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