Schools

Start Time for Watertown High School Moving Later Starting Fall of 2018

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Watertown High School will start 35 minutes later starting in the fall of 2018 after the School Committee voted to approve the school start time change on Monday night. 
Both the high school and Watertown Middle School will start at 8:30 a.m., while Cunniff, Hosmer and Lowell elementary schools will start at 8:15 a.m.

Research shows benefit of moving the start of school later is that high school students will be more ready to learn because it is more inline with adolescents’ biological clocks, said School Committee Chairman John Portz. “In the education world often times with research you have conflicting opinions. This is an issue where there is very little conflict,” Portz said. The change was made after more than two years of discussion and research by Watertown School officials. After an initial study by the School Start Time Task Force, the same group was asked to come up with recommendations for how to implement a time change and how it would impact other schools in town.

Schools

Find Out About Potential School Start Time Changes at Forums

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The Watertown Public Schools could make some significant changes to the school start times, moving the middle and high schools later and the elementary schools earlier. These changes will be discussed at a set of upcoming forums.

The School Committee received a report from the committee looking into start times over the summer, where a couple of options were laid out (read more here). On Monday, the School Committee was told that the district will take a serious look at the option to start Watertown High School and Watertown Middle School at 8:30 a.m. and moving the elementary schools to start at and earlier hour. Superintendent Dede Galdston sent out the following letter about the school start time changes and the forums:

The Watertown Public School District is currently considering changes to the start and end times for all of our schools beginning in the fall of 2018. The reasons for considering this move are many with the most important being to improve educational opportunities for all of our students based upon optimal times for student learning to occur.

Schools

Watertown Schools Moving Toward Starting High School, Middle School Later

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Students at Watertown High School and Watertown Middle School will likely have more time to sleep in beginning the fall of 2018, and that’s a good thing, school officials say. This week, the School Committee heard a presentation from a committee asked to look at the mechanisms for starting school early and what problems could arise from changing the start time at Watertown’s secondary schools. Last year the school’s Wellness Committee recommended that the district move to an 8:30 a.m. start time for middle and high school based on research about teens sleep habits and circadian rhythms, also known as the body clock. “Teen circadian rhythms shift later with the onset of puberty and causes them to stay alert until about 10:30 to 10:45 (at night),” said Watertown MiddleWatertown Middle School Principal Kimo Carter, who chaired the School Start Time Implementation Task Force. “The change happens as the get older, it just happens – they can’t control it.”

School Start Time

Task Force Examining How to Push Back the Start of Class at WHS Each Day

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A task force has been formed to look at how the Watertown Public Schools would change the time that schools start each day, in particular having the high school start later. Interim Superintendent John Brackett created the group following the work of another committee that met last year to look at the benefits and drawbacks of changing school start times. Brackett said the research shows teens are better able to learn later in the morning, but right now the high school starts begins at 7:55 a.m., while the elementary schools start later – either at 8:15 or 8:30 a.m. Watertown Middle School starts classes at 7:40 a.m.

The subject is being explored at other schools, too, Brackett said. “There is a lot of talk, but it is more talk than action on changes of start times,” Brackett said. To examine what it will take to change the start time of schools, Brackett formed the School Start Time Implementation Task Force.

Letters

LETTER: School Start Times, Changing Athletic Subcommittee to One on Student Wellness

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These are the “Unofficial Minutes” of the Policy Subcommittee Meeting on May 19 provided by Watertown Strong Schools, a parents group that follows the Watertown Public School. These Minutes were written by Rebecca Grow and David Stokes. Unofficial Minutes: Policy Subcommittee Meeting on 05/19/2016 – Key Points and Commentary

Note: These are NOT official minutes. Commentary can be found at the end of the minutes. Subcommittee members: Guido Guidotti, Chair; Eileen Hsu-Balzer; Liz Yusem; Jean Fitzgerald, Superintendent

Attendees in the audience: John Portz (SC), Candace Miller (SC), Rebecca Grow (WSS), David Stokes (WSS), Donna Rusekas (and 2 other WPS Administration folks), Stephanie Venizelos (Live Well Watertown and WPS Wellness Committee), Erica Dorenkamp, Charlie Breitrose (Watertown News).

Schools

School Committee Looking at Changing School Start Times in Fall 2017

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Watertown Public Schools officials will investigate starting the day for the high school and middle school later each day in the fall of 2017, however a change could be coming for middle schoolers in the fall of 2016. The School Committee’s Policy Subcommittee took up the issue Thursday morning and gave their OK for Superintendent Jean Fitzgerald to look at moving the school day later. The move has been looked at because research has shown that teenagers’ body clock has them staying up later and they need more than eight hours sleep. The current start time for high school (7:55 a.m.) and middle school (7:40 a.m.) are earlier than the research recommends. A survey of Watertown parents found them more supportive moving school start time back 15 minutes than 30 minutes, or more, to get to the 8:30 a.m. start time school officials are looking at.

School Start Time

School Committee Looking at Starting Day Later at the High School & Middle School

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Watertown High School and Middle School students may get to sleep in later as the School Committee considers moving the start of school later in the morning. 

Teens have different body clocks that younger students (or their parents) and research into sleep patterns find that they do not start functioning at full capacity until later in the morning, said Donna Ruseckas, the schools’ Director of Wellness and Extended Services, at Monday’s School Committee meeting. High school students need nine hours sleep and their typical sleep cycle is from 11 p.m. to 8 a.m., Ruseckas said. Studies found about 2/3 of high school students get get less than 8 hours of sleep. Ruseckas was part of the Wellness Committee that looked at the issue, and surveyed students and parents. The high school starts at 7:55 a.m. and the middle school begins the day at 7:40 a.m.
Students and Parents Surveyed
The survey found a majority of high school students (61 percent) and parents (53 percent) responded positively pushing the school start time back by 15 minutes.

Letters

LETTER: Parent Pushes for Later Start Times at High School, Middle School

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I am very happy to see that Watertown is considering moving start times later for both the Middle and High School. Thank you to the Wellness Committee and to everyone that worked on this initiative. While any movement towards later start times is a positive development, I would like to show my support for moving start times to 8:30 a.m. If we are going to make a change, why not go for the best solution possible? According to the survey data, 50 percent or more of students and parents are either neutral or in favor of moving start times as much as 45 minutes later, and that was with little to no district-wide education on the benefits. The survey cited that one of the major stumbling blocks was perceived to be conflicts with after school sports.