School Start Time History In the fall of 2001 a districtwide Sleep Needs Committee was formed as part of the district’s action plan for 2001-2002. The charge of the committee was to study the available research and literature about adolescent sleep needs and to make any appropriate recommendations to the School Committee. The committee met on a regular basis from October of 2001 through April of 2003. Ata School Committee meeting on April 9, 2003 the Sleep Needs Committee made a presentation. The Committee chose at that time to table any action to change the school start times. This topic remained tabled until the fall of 2007 at which time the Duxbury High School School Council discussed the matter and determined that the time had come for this issue to once again be reviewed by the district. At the request of the council the principal of Duxbury High School, Andrew Stephens, brought this issue forward to the Superintendent, Susan K. Skeiber. As this was determined to be an issue with impact across all schools, a new committee was formed utilizing the chairs and co-chairs of the school councils from each of the four schools within the district. This new committee had the charge to once again review the research, determine if the research was compelling enough to examine possible solutions to changing the start time and based on this conclusion determine the most feasible plan for implementing a change in start times within the Duxbury Public Schools. The committee met from February 2008 through March 2009. The committee identified the issues to be faced in bringing about a change in start times. These included buses, athletics, after-school activities, impact on each age group, and possible contract issues. The committee explored a range of possible options for a start time change. The committee reviewed the positive and negative aspects of each option. On February 4, 2009, Superintendent Susan Skeiber recommended that the school start times for Duxbury Middle (DMS) and Duxbury High School (DHS) be changed from 7:25am to 8:15am and that Alden Elementary change its start time from 8:20am to 7:30am. The Superintendent stated that the premise for changing these school start times was to have the high school begin at 8:15am, which would result in a later start time by 45 minutes. Motivation for this recommendation was the scientific research that suggested this added sleep time would benefit DMS/DHS students academically, behaviorally, and socially. In considering the earlier start time for students at Alden, the committee reviewed the work of sleep researchers who have determined that children in the age range of those at Alden School require an average of 9 hours of sleep a night (the range being from 9-11 hours) and that there was no clear research that indicated a chronic problem with children in this age group being able to get the amount of sleep they need. The researchers further believe that with the exception of those children with sleep disorders, the ability to get the necessary sleep at this age is more a result of environmental factors. These factors might include high rates of social activity and over scheduling of children with lessons and activities. Problems in other communities that are not applicable to Duxbury include low SES, domestic/community violence, high rates of drug/alcohol abuse, high rates of crime, and high rates of social services intervention. With this information it was determined that the earlier start time for Alden students would not have an adverse impact on these students.At the February 4, 2009 School Committee meeting the School Committee voted 3 to 2 in favor of accepting the Superintendent’s recommendation for the proposed start time changes. In the two months following the decision, additional analysis was conducted to determine if the Alden start time could be further adjusted to accommodate a later start time and to ensure that no students would be picked up by school buses prior to 7am. This further analysis resulted in the Alden start time being adjusted to 7:45. This change also provided for the guarantee that buses would not begin pick-ups prior to 7am. At the April School Committee meeting the Committee again reviewed the start time proposals and voted 3 to 2 to uphold the change in start times. beginning in September 2009. School Start e Committe A Start Time Committee was established following the April School Committee meeting and vote. Notices were placed in school newsletters inviting members of the community to participate in the committee. The committee was given three charges for the implementation of the new start times. (See Attachment #1) These were: 1. The committee will plan and communicate the implementation of the new start time. 2. The committee will plan and communicate the assessment of the change. 3. The committee will develop a communication plan. In its initial meetings the committee established a plan for projected communication. The plan identified the stakeholders, the required information to be communicated, the frequency of communication as well as the mediums to be utilized. A timeline for the implementation of the charges of the committee was also developed. In this first year of implementation adjustments have been made to both of these plans. The primary change has been in the frequency of surveys to be conducted. It was initially planned to conduct both parent and student surveys in both the fall and spring. As the first year of the new start times began, it become evident that this frequency was going to be unrealistic. B ine Parent and Student Surveys 2009 Baseline parent and student surveys were conducted prior to the end of the 2008-2009 school year. Parents with students in grades 2-5 as well as students in these grades completed surveys that sought data on students sleep patterns and habits. These surveys also sought information on those factors that have been identified as risk factors that can possibly impact sleep. Students in grade 10 completed a similar survey. The data collected from these surveys would provide the baseline for future survey data comparisons. Analysis of this data was conducted with the assistance of researchers at Boston University. To guide this analysis the committee established the following three questions: 1. What are the current sleep patterns by grade level (hours of sleep, bedtime and rising time, week sleep Vs weekend sleep)? 2. What factors impact the amount of sleep students receive at each grade level? a. Is there an association between the following parameters: i. Caffeine intake, afterschool activities, bedtime, wake time, duration of sleep? 3. Are there any strong correlations between data sets on any or all of the surveys given?An analysis of this data was conducted and the research students at BU provided a report. This report will be discussed in this report under the topic of assessment. Start Time Forum A community forum was held in the fall of 2009 to provide parents and members of the community with an opportunity to respond to a number of questions regarding the new start times. Parents who attended were arranged in small groups to provide all who attend with an Opportunity to voice their thoughts. Each group spent time answering and recording responses to each of the questions. The final activity was to have each group report out to the full forum on each of the questions. Common points that evolved from this forum were identified. It was from the feedback at this forum that the final bus changes were made. The questions that each group was asked were: What brought you here this evening? How is the new start time working for each member of your family? What has worked? What is not working for you? Have you been able to overcome this? How? What suggestions/solutions can you provide? Have there been any surprises? PALE Go See, lemme yn Plan: The Start Time Committee met from April through to September on the planning and implementation of the new start times. In these meetings the committee addressed the following areas: ‘Area ‘Actions Buses Establishment of routes and pick up times Safety issues for Alden dismissal DMS/DHS bus for Alden activities Traffic Patiemns ‘Arrival and dismissal and the impact on St. George Street Assistance from First Student in initial week of school Work with Duxbury Police in training of new crossing guard After School Activities Establish offerings Establish sign up process Cost of offerings Family notification of programs Locations for each offering Bus process for those students from Alden choosing to ride the DMS/DHS bus home ~ driver notification process ~ sibling or babysitter responsible for Alden riders Athletics ‘Schedules — Games and practices After school athletics Recreation Department programs Youth Groups After school Activities Music (DMS/DHS) Drama After school student support Work schedule of students at high school Heaith Education Curriculum Parent informational meetings / eventsBuses As the school year began the arrival of buses at DMS and DHS in the morning became the most problematic issue of the implementation. The arrival of the last buses created difficulty for students getting to class on time. To remedy this situation the first two adjustments involved the reassignment of students to different buses and bus routes so as to assist in shortening the routes and the time necessary to make the bus runs to and from the schools. While these adjustments did assist, a final adjustment was necessary to provide all students arri ing on buses with adequate time to get to their first class. This final adjustment was a change in the start time from 8:15 to 8:20. This additional shift of 5 minutes ensured students were able to artive at school in time to adequately get to their first class. rr ol Act len Alden Assistant Principal, Karen Fruzzetti, was given the responsibility to work with local groups to establish a roster of after-school offerings for students at Alden School. Mrs. Fruzzetti enlisted the assistance of the recreation department, Ellison Art Center, Before and After Dark and the Duxbury Student Union to establish a number of activities in which students could enroll. To establish offerings that would meet the interests of the students and their parents a survey was conducted. The result of this cooperative effort was a roster of offerings that met the interests of the students. These offerings inchrtet provided through Before and After Dark included: * Solving Mysteries with Science Academic All Stars Speech and Debate Not Your Average Book Club Plaster Gauze 7 Card Sharks * Yoga * Chocolate Dipping Class * Home Alone and Staying Safe * Babysitting Session One and Two Students have also had the opportunity to join the Duxbury Student Union. These students enjoy a snack, physical activity games, and activities that relate to monthly holidays and/or current events. The relationship with the DSU has been a very successful part of this after-school plan. While the recreation department has always provided after-school athletics for students at Alden, this year the department was able to expand their offerings to four days per week. This has been a popular activity for students this year. As part of these after-school activities students and their families were also given the opportunity to ride the DMS/DHS bus home if a sibling or babysitter accompanied them. Students who Participated in this program were walked from the DSU or activity to the buses where they met their sibling or babysitter and rode home on the DMS/DHS bus. Approximately 30 studentsparticipate in this program. This has also proven to be successful for the students and their families at Alden and will be continued in the year ahead. Athletics The Athletic Director, Thom Holdgate, has been able to schedule all games and practices to meet the new start times. Early dismissals of students for games were only necessary on a limited basis when students were engaged in tournament play. An example was the golf team. Students were also able to receive academic support, as practices did not begin until 3:30. It should also be noted that students who required additional support were able to attend this and with a teacher’s note be excused from being on time to practice. Tas 1 Activities D) Mi 4 There have been no issues with co-curricular activities at either DMS or DHS during the 200%, 200g school year. ‘oO Health Education has. / This is an area that will need additional focus in the year ahead, OS part 8f U4 Poyam - Assessment Data While some of the data that has been collected is positive, when reviewing this data, it must be remembered that this is the first year of this implementation and analysis of data should be conducted over a period of the next two year so as to provide trends and patterns that will provide a clearer and definitive account of the impact of these changes. 2009 Student and Parent Surveys The analysis of this data (completed by BU based on the committee questions) indicates: ‘Students in grades 2-4 who participated in the survey are meeting the minimum standards of required sleep but that the students in grades 5 and 10 report getting fewer than recommended hours of sleep. * As children get older fewer of them report waking up on their own on weekdays. * For weekday bedtimes, the data showed that with each grade the mean time to bed on school nights becomes later. * Weekend sleep patterns: In all grades the majority of students report going to bed later on weekends than on weekdays. The percent of students waking up later on weekends than weeknights increases with each grade. 45% of 2" graders report waking later on weekends while 90% of 10 grade students wake later on weekends. * An analysis of risk factors. Risk factors listed in the survey were compared to total sleep times. The factors examined included caffeine consumption, energy drink consumption, and having a TV, computer or cell phone in the room. Activities that children do before bed were also examined. These included reading a book, doing homework, doing chores, and spending time with family members before bed. A summary of these results provided the following: = Across all grades having a TV in the room is associated with significantly less sleep * For 2-4" graders reading a book before bed is associate@with getting significantly more sleep«For 3" and 4" graders having a cell phone in the room, playing on the computer and playing video games or watching TV are all associated with obtaining significantly less sleep. = For 4" graders, drinking caffeinated soda is associated with less sleep * For 4" graders who reported spending time with family members before going to bed had significantly more sleep than those who did not endorse this activity. * Due to the fact that the parent and student surveys did not ask the same questions responses cannot be generally compared. However when comparing parent responses to the students’ responses regarding when they went to bed and woke on both weeknights and weekends, both indicated that the children went to bed and woke later on weekends than on weekdays. The data collected from these surveys will be valuable in comparing responses on the surveys that have been conducted during the spring of 2010. Once again these surveys and data are being analyzed by researchers at BU and will be reported back to the district. ‘Teacher Surveys Surveys of the staff at Alden, DMS, and DHS were conducted from January 27" — February 5%. These surveys were developed at the University of Minnesota at the Center for Applied Research and Educational Improvement. These surveys had been tested through the University of Minnesota. The surveys therefore are considered a vetted document and useful for this purpose. Sixty-four surveys were distributed at Alden and forty-two of these were completed and returned. At DMS/DHS one hundred sixty-seven surveys were distributed and ninety were completed and returned. At Alden this reflected a 65.6% response and at DMS/DHS the Tesponse was 53.8%. On each of the surveys staff were asked to respond to a number of questions related to the change in the start time. The attached surveys provide the questions that were completed by the staff. A scale of 5 through 1 was utilized, 5 representing “Strongly Agree” to 1 representing “Strongly Disagree”. The staff was also asked to rate their overall feelings about the change in start time according to the following determinants: Love it, Like it, Neutral, Don’t like it, Hate it. In addition teachers were asked to provide written comments. chers at DMS and DHS responde: 1. Ihave more students who seem alert and “w: 2. I see fewer students sleeping at their desks. 3. I see improved student behavior in general. 4. More students have sought academic help before school. 5. More students have sought academic help after school. 6. ZU 8. it” during the first two periods of the day. . Ihave heard more positive than negative comments from students about the change. . Ihave heard more positive than negative comments from parents about the change. - Ihave found the later start time has had a positive impact on my personal schedule before school. 9. Thave found the later start time has had a positive impact on my personal schedule after school. 10. I feel the later start time has had a positive impact on my teaching. 11. My feelings, overall, about the later start are: