Holmdel High School Start Time Will Be Later Next September

HOLMDEL, NJ — Come September, Holmdel High School students will be starting school at 8 a.m. - nearly 40 minutes later, giving them what the district says is the necessary extra time for rest and well being.

The district, with consensus from the board and after a parents' forum, is confident the change will be a welcome one - and one that helps stagger start times at other schools in the district to make mornings more pleasant for parents and students, officials said.

"There was broad support for this," said Superintendent Dr. Scott Cascone.

The change is an administrative one and did not require a Board of Education vote, Cascone said. But he said it was discussed both at the board level and with parents.

And one board member, Terence Wall, who said he has been a proponent of the later start time since before 2017, noted that science supports the wisdom of the later start time.

"This is one of the most important things affecting the physical, mental and emotional health" of students, he said, especially for high school age students whose circadian rhythms are disrupted when waking up at 5:30 a.m. and waiting in the dark for buses to get to school well before the 7:25 a.m. bell.

According to the American Psychological Association, Wall said, there are many known benefits to a later school start time for high school students, including increased attendance rates, decreased disciplinary action, better student attention and better test scores and GPAs.

Holmdel will be in the forefront of the move to later hours among other districts, Wall noted.

Cascone and Wall cited Chatham and Princeton as among the few districts in the state that have made the change.

And Wall noted that state legislation for later hours, which did not advance this past session, will come up again - and Holmdel will be ahead of the curve, he added.

Cascone said at a Committee of the Whole meeting Dec. 6 that the district is working on transportation scheduling and is engaging with teachers to make "non-monetary" adjustments. There will also be discussions with the Holmdel Police Department regarding traffic support. So there is a lot of work to be done yet on the change, he noted.

But he said the new high school hours and the staggering of other schools' start times may actually make getting students to school a better experience for parents and kids.

And Cascone said feedback from students has been largely positive. "Any time there is change, there is going to be some apprehension," he added.

Board member Wall said there are savings expected in transportation costs, as well.

At a recent forum for parents on the issue, Cascone presented the new school day schedule:

• Holmdel High School: 8 a.m. to 2:35 p.m. (Was 7:21 a.m. to 2:10 p.m.)
• Satz School (grades 7-8): 8 a.m. to 2:35 p.m. (Was 8:15 a.m. to 2:44 p.m.)
• Indian Hill School (grades 4-6): 8:35 a.m. to 3:10 p.m. (Was 8:55 a.m. to 3:35 p.m.)
• Village School (grades PreK-3): 9:05 a.m. to 3:40 p.m. (Was 8:55 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.)

Cascone said he expects the new hours will "begin rolling on day one" of the next school year.

He said the School Start Time public forum was attended by approximately 20 parents and "garnered positive feedback."

The recording of the session is available here.

"Your continued input is invaluable as we navigate this important decision together," Cascone told parents in the district.

Statewide discussion of later start times

The later school start times discussion in New Jersey began around 2013 when the American Academy of Pediatrics recommended that teenagers in particular should start school later to ensure they get enough sleep, according to a past Patch article.

This prompted some school districts such as Princeton to push back start times for the 2018-19 school year. Read More: Princeton High School To Start Day Later Next Year

In 2022, some legislators began to push a new bill that would move high school start times to no earlier than 8:30 a.m. The new bill (A3816), sponsored by Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin (D-Middlesex) and Sen. Vin Gopal (D-Monmouth), had initially been proposed to go into effect at the start of the 2024-25 school year. The legislation would not impact elementary and middle school students. Read More: NJ High Schools Could Start At 8:30 A.M. If This New Bill Passes

However, the state mandate of school start times was not favored in New Jersey. The New Jersey School Boards Association said school start times are a matter best left to local school boards in response to community needs. Read More: State Mandate Of School Start Times Not Favored In New Jersey