Manatee County School Board to discuss later class times

BRADENTON -- In line with research showing students who get a full night of sleep perform better academically, the Manatee County School Board will take a preliminary step Tuesday in the process of potentially changing school start times.

Although research makes a good argument for starting school mornings later, particularly at the high-school level to allow teens more sleep, logistics, athletics and after-school jobs considerations often keep school districts from making the change.

The Manatee County School Board will look at factors such as transportation, athletics, family responsibilities and part-time job flexibility.

"We need to look into the possibility of reacting to that research for the benefit of our high school students," board member Charie Kennedy said.

Kennedy, a former Manatee High School teacher, requested the workshop. The board is not expected to take immediate action.

"It's purely discussion," said Ryan Saxe, district executive director of secondary schools. Saxe will help lead the discussion.

Saxe said any change can affect a lot of areas so the discussion will help the board outline different options and implications.

Three Manatee County high schools now start instruction at 7:30 a.m. and three start at 7:45 a.m.

All six traditional high schools let out at 2:05 p.m.

Elementary schools run from 8:30 a.m. to 2:50 p.m. and middle schools run from 9:20 a.m. to 3:40 p.m.

The conversation about later start times began last spring when the school board allowed three district high schools to start 15 minutes earlier in the morning.

The switch to shorter classes meant more time was needed to allow students to pass through the hallways, and the easiest solution was to add time in the morning.

"This is sort of a fix for a problem," board Chairman Bob Gause said. "But I think we'd all like to take a holistic look at it."

Members of the public and some board members lamented adding minutes in the morning, knowing high school students often don't go to bed at the proper time and can be groggy and not ready for school in the morning.

The American Academy of Pediatrics reports a number of factors keep students from getting the proper amount of sleep and identifies later school start times as a fix for the issue.

"A substantial body of research has now demonstrated that delaying school start times is an effective countermeasure to chronic sleep loss and has a wide range of potential benefits to students with regard to physical and mental health, safety and academic achievement," a 2014 study commissioned by the academy reports.

The study and a number of potential options will be considered, including flipping elementary and high school start times, starting middle and high school at the same time or potentially transporting and starting all students at the same time.

Transportation issues are one of the biggest obstacles. The Transportation Department may not be able to transport multiple school levels at the same time because of a lack of drivers and buses.

"Right now, we have enough buses to do a three-tier system," said Jason Harris, director of transportation.

Harris said he will provide options for how busing could work if the board wanted to pursue a time change.

There are 216 buses in the district fleet. All district bus drivers have at least two routes -- some combination of an elementary, middle and high school route in the morning and afternoon -- and most drivers cover three routes a day.

In Sarasota County, most elementary school days start between 8:15 and 8:30 a.m. and let out at 3 or 3:15 p.m. Most Sarasota County middle schools run from 9:15 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and high schools from 7:30 a.m. to 2:15 p.m.

In Sarasota County, additional tax money from voters supports longer instructional time for students.

Meghin Delaney, education reporter, can be reached at 941-745-7081. Follow her on Twitter@MeghinDelaney.

This story was originally published November 7, 2015 at 5:31 PM with the headline "Manatee County School Board to discuss later class times."