Board of Education

School Start Times Update: Working Committee To Be Formed, Possible Bus Scheduling Advantages in Favored System

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Superintendent of Schools Dr. Bryan Luizzi said Monday that starting New Canaan High School later could have some bus scheduling advantages over the current system. The Board of Education decided at its June meeting to pursue a plan which would see all three elementary schools beginning at 7:45 a.m., the high school starting at 8:20 a.m., and all of Saxe Middle School beginning at 9:05 a.m.

The way buses are currently staged, they all start in the southern part of town, to pick up and drop off children from Saxe Middle School and the High School, Luizzi said. However, starting with the elementary schools could mean that some buses don’t need to come to the southern part of town. 

“We do believe that we’ll find some time and some efficiency by having the elementary schools go first,” he said at the Board’s regular meeting, held in the Wagner Room at NCHS. He added, “They can start picking up high school kids who live in the west part of town and then go straight to the high school, so I think that can save us a little bit of time. A similar scenario may apply in the afternoons, Luizzi said. 

Despite these potential bus route efficiencies, Luizzi told the Board that the identified school start and finish times might have to be adjusted by five or 10 minutes, once officials have determined the logistics of bus routing.

Op-Ed: Next Steps in Evaluating School Start Times in New Canaan

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On Monday night, the Board of Education took an important step in its consideration of school start and end times by narrowing its focus and directing the administration to further evaluate the pros and cons of one particular scenario as presented in the community-wide survey this past May. The Board of Education did not make a decision to change school start times on Monday evening. Instead, the Board is continuing to learn about the impacts of a potential change on students, parents, families, staff, and the community, and to solicit feedback from all stakeholders in order to best anticipate the consequences of making a change prior to making a decision. The Board is continuing to follow the process that it had outlined previously, and will continue to learn about the impacts of a potential change in the months ahead. 

As a Board, we are exploring making a possible change to school start times as one dimension of our broader initiative focused on creating the conditions for improved student health and wellness. This discussion is occurring in school districts locally and nationally in response to a growing body of research that highlights the important connections between sleep and student health and wellness, the complex challenges faced by today’s adolescents, and the positive impact a change in school start times can have on student sleep habits.

Board of Ed Favors Plan To Start New Canaan High School Nearly One Hour Later

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With inconclusive survey results and established health data in hand, nearly all members of the Board of Education said Monday night that the district should pursue a new school start time schedule that allows teens to get more sleep. Though the Board took no formal vote at its regular meeting, seven of eight members present said the district should devote further study to an option that would see New Canaan High School start at 8:20 a.m.—50 minutes later than the current 7:30 a.m. start time. “I think that based on the research that has been done, based on the feedback that we have, it’s worth figuring out whether there is a viable option to have our teenagers go to school later,” Board of Ed Chairman Brendan Hayes said at well-attended meeting, held in the Wagner Room at NCHS. “And the likely [outcome] from that, although I think [it’s] also beneficial for our younger students, is for them to go to school earlier.”

Under the proposed new start time schedule, all of Saxe Middle School would start at 9:05 a.m. (currently 7:30 a.m. for seventh and eighth grades, 8:20 a.m. for fifth and sixth) and the elementary schools at 7:45 a.m. (currently 8:20 a.m. for South School, 9:05 a.m. for East and West). The additional buses needed to realize that system would see New Canaan pay an additional $300,000 to $450,000 annually, officials have said.

0684-Radi0

0684-Radi0: School Start Times in New Canaan

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This week on 0684-Radi0, our free weekly podcast (subscribe here in the iTunes Store), we talk to Karen Willett, a creator and leader of Healthy School Start Times New Canaan, about the group’s formation and mission, and its assessment of where things stand now with respect to the start times of New Canaan Public Schools. This installment of 0684-Radi0 is sponsored by Ally-Bally-Bee, a gift and home store with high quality and on trend handcrafted goods and fine art. Located on Elm Street in the heart of downtown New Canaan, Ally-Bally-Bee will host a trunk show on Friday, May 3rd for Hip V Modern Vintage Jewelry. There will be discounts and a raffle for a vintage piece, so be sure to stop by from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Here are some recent past episodes of 0684-Radi0:

Board of Education

School Start Times: Board of Ed Debates Whether To Include Expensive ‘Two-Tiered’ Busing System in Survey

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Board of Education members on Monday night debated whether to remove an expensive option to start school times later from a survey of the school and wider community that is to go out next week. It would cost an estimated $1.2 million to $1.4 million annually beyond what New Canaan currently pays for its “three-tiered” busing system (about $3.2 million per year) to switch to a “two-tiered” option that would require more buses to get kids to school. 

Whereas the public schools currently start between 7:30 and 9 a.m., the two-tiered option—the most expensive presented by a consultant in November—would see all of Saxe Middle School and New Canaan High School start at 8:15 a.m. while all three elementary schools would start at 9:10 a.m.

Noting that the district doesn’t yet know what its spending request for fiscal year 2021 will be, Board of Ed Chairman Brendan Hayes said that if “we think we are going to reallocate $1 million of our budget into a two-tier system and we decide that it’s in the best interests of students to remove that $1 million from two or three programs—and we think because of all the work that we have done, with the administration, that that is the absolute best thing that we can do for all of the students in New Canaan—then that is what it is.”

“That is what we should bring forward,” he said during the meeting, held in the Wagner Room at New Canaan High School. “We may decide that we want to increase the budget by that incremental $1.3 million and we can explain to everybody in town why we are doing that, why it is the absolute best thing for all the kids in town,” Hayes added. “And it may be the Town Council and Board of Finance disagree with us and say, ‘You’ve to cut $1.3 million.’ OK, then we are not making that change.