Lee Pulaski, lpulaski@wolfrivermedia.com
A public forum regarding school start times in the Shawano School District was sparsely attended Thursday, but many of the dozen people present made it clear that the committee recommendation to push the times back 30 minutes for all schools was not palatable.
Under the ad-hoc committee recommendation, school would start at 8 a.m., instead of 7:30 a.m., for high school and middle school students. The elementary schools would start at 8:45 a.m. instead of 8:15 a.m.
Much of the committee’s motivation behind the change was to help high school and middle school students. Research showed that once children reach adolescence, they typically fall asleep around 11 p.m. and wake up around 8 a.m. — and are less prepared to learn early in the morning.
The committee also recommended keeping two separate bus runs before and after school. Having all the schools start at the same time would require an additional six buses and would increase annual transportation costs by about $200,000.
Research done on the other schools in CESA 8 showed that Shawano was the only district that started its high school and middle school before 8 a.m.
Parents at Thursday’s forum suggested having all schools start at 8:15 a.m., despite the cost, or flip the start times, with elementary schools starting earlier than the middle and high schools.
Tony Stuber, a parent with two children at Hillcrest Primary School, said he understood the rationale of changing the start times for middle and high schools, but questioned why there was no research into how a later start would impact younger children.
Stuber noted that when children become adults, employers are not going to move the start of work later to accommodate teens’ biological clocks.
“There are many kids that don’t go on to college. They leave high school and go to work,” Stuber said. “We’re getting them ready for the real world.”
Joan Urban, director of St. James Childcare, pointed out that changing school start times might increase the need for day care services, as parents’ work schedules often would not change.
“That translates into a lot of income lost for families,” Urban said. “We’re putting the burden back on the families. I understand that, but I don’t have to like it.”
Elisha Wagenson, principal at Sacred Heart Catholic School, said that the start times for the public schools would not alter her school’s start time of 8:05 a.m. Urban said that officials with St. James Lutheran School also plan to keep the start time the same, which would mean younger parochial students would ride with middle and high school students instead of with Shawano elementary students.
Shawano School Board President Tyler Schmidt said after the meeting that the ad-hoc committee is going to digest the information and meet in the next one to two weeks to decide whether to alter the existing recommendation to the School Board. A date and time for the meeting was not established.
Even before Thursday’s forum, the committee had received a number of comments on its recommended changes since they were presented to the board March 2.