I want to sincerely thank the thousands of community members who have taken the time to provide input on the District’s proposed change to school start and end times.
In the fall of 2015, the Issaquah School District put forward a change to school start and end times that would essentially invert the school bell times between our secondary schools (middle and high schools) and our elementary schools. This proposal would move secondary school start times approximately ninety–five minutes to 9:00 a.m. which results in a 3:55 dismissal. The plan would also move all fifteen of our elementary schools to a consistent 8:00 a.m. start time and a 2:25 p.m. dismissal.
The proposal was created to address concerns raised that adolescents are not getting the right amount of sleep, nor the right timing of sleep, recommended in studies published by the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Center for Disease Control. I have stated publicly that I agree that our secondary start times are too early and that some students are not getting enough sleep.
I have heard from dozens of community members through oral testimony at numerous School Board meetings, hundreds of emails addressed to me, input to the School Board, and the input of more than 11,000 community members who participated in a Thought Exchange engagement. (The report out from Thought Exchange is being developed and should be available to the public by the end of next week.) From this input, it is evident that we do not have consensus or a clear majority in favor of the District’s proposal or for the current start and end times. Additionally, several important concerns emerged from your input on this subject.
While many of you in our community believe that the current start times at our secondary schools are too early, many also believe that ending secondary schools at nearly 4:00 p.m. is too late. The worry around ending secondary schools this late in the day is the potential negative impact on students’ ability to work after school, provide child care for their younger siblings, or participate in after school activities such as tutoring, clubs, and athletics. I will also note that while the sleep study data is compelling, there is a strong body of research that links school engagement and success to participation in after school activities.
I also received a strong message from many elementary parents that they do not favor earlier start times for their children. Many of you urged the District to consider a school start and end time proposal that would not invert the secondary and elementary schedules and instead, take a more moderate step toward later start times for secondary students. However, such a proposal may not meet the American Academy of Pediatrics recommendation not to start secondary schools before 8:30 a.m.
In light of the lack of community consensus and the desire among many to have an opportunity to consider an alternate proposal, there will be no change to start and end times for the 2016-2017 school year. Instead, I will work with our administrative team to develop a new proposal for community consideration that moves us closer to the recommended start times for secondary students with less impact to the elementary schedule. This alternate proposal must still be fiscally feasible and take into account our geographically large district with routes that require a minimum of one hour between elementary and secondary bus runs.
Through this process, I have also come to realize that a March decision is too late for many families to adjust their schedules, especially those who depend on childcare providers. Therefore, I am committed to having a new school start and end time proposal ready by late spring of the current school year so that the community can provide input allowing a decision to be made by early December 2016 for the 2017-2018 school year.
The District will use this time to continue conversing with the community and our students about the important health benefits of the timing and duration of sleep. It will also enable us to observe and learn from our neighboring districts that are implementing later start times at the secondary level this coming school year.
I am confident that our community can settle on school start and end times that will help us better address the educational issues that many feel arise from sleep practices that are out of alignment with current research, while preserving our robust offerings of after school activities and allowing older students to be available for childcare of their younger siblings or work opportunities.
Finally, I want to thank the community for taking the time to provide input on this very important issue. I recognize that many people will not be happy with my decision to stay with the current school start and end times for 2016-2017, but I am hopeful that our community can unite around an alternate proposal for the 2017- 2018 school year.
Sincerely,
Ron Thiele
Superintendent
This message was sent out by Ron Thiele on March 1, 2016.
