Guilford Board Poised to Vote on School Start Time Change

GUILFORD, CT - After years of debating the pros and cons of changing school start times to allow older kids more time to sleep, the Board of Education looks poised to vote on the issue at its July 9th meeting."

"Possible action" on a the school start time issue is listed on the agenda of the board meeting for that night.

If the vote is taken to make the change, the change would start with the coming school year opening.

At the school board's June Meeting, Board of Education Chairman William Bloss said that a task force that has studied the issue closely has submitted a recommendation to the full board that the high school start time be moved ahead 15 minutes, to 7:40; the middle school time moved 10 minutes ahead; and, move the elementary school start time ahead five minutes and the end time ahead five minutes.

School Superintendent Dr. Paul Freeman said he believes the recommendation of the task force provides for situation where a "relatively minor change can add up to an additional substantial number of hours of sleep for some students."

Freeman said he views this latest proposal as the best solution and most palatable compromise suggested so far. He added there would be no additional financial cost to the town incurred by this plan.

Bloss said when reviewing this proposal the following items should be considered:

-- confidence that the proposed changes will actually allow for an additional 15 minutes later start time for high school students, an additional 10 minutes later start time for middle school students, and an additional 5 minutes later start for elementary schools coupled with a 5 minute later end time;

-- is the proposal acceptable to the community;

-- does the additional 15 minutes for high school students outweigh any consequences for the elementary school students;

-- it the proposal enough of a change that the board should allow for additional time for further input before taking action.

Bloss said while he is inclined to support this latest plan waiting until this coming July 9th meeting to vote on a final plan will give people time to provide additional feedback. Freeman added that if the vote were taken at the July 9th meeting, it would be six weeks before the start of the coming school year - which he said would be adequate time to implement the changes.