In Dec. of 2016, the San Mateo Union High School District Board tabeled a proposal for implementing a later start schedule for the schools in the district that would move the start time to 8:30 a.m. Yet, even as the board chose not to vote on the proposal then, it will still be considering this proposal in upcoming months.
This issue was first introduced by Superintendent Kevin Skelly with the support of other board members after viewing the Healthy Kids Survey. It is hoped that a later start time in schools would improve students’ health and academic performance.
While the debate continues, more information is being considered and the board hopes to vote this school year. However, Principal Patricia Kurtz says, “I’m thinking it’s pretty late. If you see it coming forward in a board agenda in the next month or so, it potentially does [have a chance of passing]. But I think there’s some work that needs to be done, so I’m not sure if it’s just going to be pushed off and tried again next year.”
Senior Carolin Jia, the Aragon student representative on the district school board, says “One concern that’s been really discussed is about the stress level of students, and so it’s been a major concern and in trying to improve students’ mental health and stress levels.”
So far, there have been two presentations on the science behind a late start and the benefits to students. Skelly hopes to conduct a survey for students and parents to gauge the general opinion on moving school time to start later and therefore ending later.
There are clearly health benefits for students who sleep more each night, but Kurtz adds, “If I thought students would get more [sleep] and be able to turn their phones off and say I’m going to go to bed, I would be very happy about it.”
Other concerns voiced by the students have indicated that a late start time is not necessarily beneficial. Representative from Burlingame High School, senior Jasmine Samishadi says, “In the mornings there is so much traffic for the late start we have at 9 a.m. [at Burlingame High School]. I imagine how it will be when we start at the same time as middle schoolers, and elementary kid students. The added traffic will result in kids having to leave earlier to not be late. Not only that, it also makes us get out later, which is not fun, and more inconvenient for students’ after school schedules.”
Jia personally discounts the necessity of the change. She attributes her opinion to her interactions with others, saying, “Having spoken to students, I find that later start times don’t really help just because you have to take into account that many students in the Bay Area have both parents working, so the late start time won’t really benefit them, and they still have to wake up in time for their parents to drop them off.”
Although the board didn’t pass the proposal in December, the coming months’ board meetings will tell whether or not Aragon students will see a later start scheldule in the future.
