The Wake County Board of Education members said they were wary of making any changes to school start and end times, despite research and some community support in favor of moving high school start times back.
Moving high school start times back would be an effort to help students sleep more and be more ready for classes, though some board members were skeptical Tuesday about whether high school students would end up getting more sleep if school started later.
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The school board reviewed the results of a community survey Tuesday but didn’t end up any more certain of a path forward than they were last month.
The school system just doesn’t know enough to move forward, members concluded Tuesday.
Board members asked the Wake County Public School System to instead consider a third-party audit of the system’s transportation division, which has a vacancy rate of about one-third of bus drivers and bus safety assistants for special needs students.
Any changes to bell schedules would impact those employees, board members concluded, and the board should know what transpiration employees both think about any changes and why the vacancy rates are so high.
It’s unlikely the board would approve of any changes, even including a pilot program, until the 2025-26 school year — more than two years from now.
“I would not personally push this for 2024-25,” Board Member Sam Hershey said. “Anything would have to be after that. The transportation piece is so critical that we would have to get everything in line first.”
Even if the board puts off making changes, Board Member Tyler Swanson said, the audit would be helpful for addressing immediate transportation issues, including driver shortages and missed pickups and drop-offs.
“I think it would help us think better, do better,” Swanson said.
District Assistant Superintendent of Academics Drew Cook said the message to the district Tuesday appeared to be that board members are interested in making changes but want more information first.
“That’s helpful from our standpoint,” Cook said.
The school board has discussed making changes to its bell schedules — namely, to start high school later and elementary school earlier — off and on for a few years. It does not have a formal proposal to make any changes, and board members and school system officials have expressed concerns around the logistics of pulling off any changes. Nothing will change for the upcoming school year.
The driver of the conversation is research showing teenagers’ sleep schedules naturally push back when they hit puberty and that they are most alert and rested later in the morning than when school currently starts for them.
High school starts at 7:25 a.m. and middle school starts at 8:30 a.m., though officials have not looked at making serious changes to middle school start times.
Nearly 18,000 people took the survey, including about 13,000 parents, 3,400 school staff members and 1,200 high school students.
One of the main takeaways from the survey, according to the school system: Most people would prefer all schools start and end at about the same, running from 8:45 a.m. to 3:15 p.m. Such a change would require more buses and bus drivers.
That’s so far a deal-breaker for school board members.
Board Member Cheryl Caulfield asked what the cost of a two-tier school start time schedule would be, compared to the current three-tier system. When she talked with other board members, transportation was the biggest topic of conversation.
“Busing seemed to be what really halts the (schedule) adjustments,” Caulfield said.
What parents, staff and students said
Survey takers were asked about their opinion on the benefits of their current school schedule in comparison to an alternative schedule. That would be:
- For high school, the current schedule of 7:25 a.m. to 2:20 p.m., compared to 9:15 a.m. to 4:10 p.m.
- For middle school, the current schedule of 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m., compared to 8:15 a.m. to 3 p.m.
- For elementary school, the current schedule of 9:15 a.m. to 3:45 p.m., compared to 7:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Parents, students and staff, overwhelmingly believed the alternative schedule would benefit students academically and health-wise, particularly middle and high school students. At the same time, high school students were concerned about the later school end time negatively impacting extracurricular activities, likes sports, clubs and jobs.
There weren't many clear majorities in the survey on other matters, however.
The roughly 13,000 parents surveyed were split on whether changes in schedules would negatively affect childcare or their work schedules. But most middle and high school parents said the changes would either positively affect or not affect childcare or their work schedules. About 51% of elementary parents preferred the current setup for their work schedules and 45% preferred it for childcare.
Most of the about 7,000 elementary school parents who took the survey said preferred the elementary schedule that's already in place. Most the 1,700 elementary school staff who took the survey, however, said they preferred an earlier start for the sake of their work and family schedules and students' health, performance and attendance.
Of the 1,200 high school students surveyed, most said the later start time would benefit them more academically and health-wise and would improve their attendance and alertness. They said keeping the current schedule would benefit them more for their activities and work schedule. They were split on whether the change would benefit their ability to do homework or their family's schedule.
Elementary and middle school students weren't included in the survey.
About 3,400 staff members took the survey. They were split on which schedule would be better for their own childcare arrangement. Most of the about 1,400 high school teachers who took the survey said they preferred their current work schedule and said it was better for their family.
Superintendent Catty Moore also posed the changes to her teacher advisory council and her student leadership council and received negative feedback.
Teachers said the changes would cause too many disruptions and couldn't be pulled off with the school system's current transportation situation. Students were skeptical the changes would actually result in them getting more sleep.