WILMINGTON, MA — The Wilmington School Committee recently heard a presentation from the district’s School Start Time Committee — a presentation 3 years in the making. 

The School Start Time Committee was formed at the start of the 2019-2020 school year at the request of School Superintendent Dr. Glenn Brand, who heard the following concerns repeated by many during his entry process:

• The current start times at Wilmington Middle School and Wilmington High School are early and do not align with what research identifies as appropriate for young adolescents.
• There is a wide spread of start and end times across the district which are problematic for aligning professional development and job-alike/grade-alike meetings.
• As district, Wilmington is falling out of step with the large Middlesex League where a number of districts have more recently made changes to their start time.

Brand and the School Committee made exploring changing school start times one of its top priorities, including it in the district’s strategic plan. It was an issue the School Committee signaled support for back in 2016, when Wilmington signed on to a commitment with other Middlesex League schools to change school start times. 

The School Start Time Committee consisted of two high school students, six parents/guardians, five staff members, a School Committee representative, three principals/assistant principals, two members of the Central Office Team, Athletic Director, Transportation Coordinator, and CARES Program Coordinator. 

The Committee met for six months and “essentially completed” its work when COVID-19 struck in March. As a result of the pandemic, Superintendent Brand decided to hold off on public discussions and considerations, but feels the time is right to re-start the conversation as any start time changes will require “considerable advance notice” to the community.

The Committee highlighted research around the impact of sleep deprivation on the overall health and school performance of young people. The Committee cited findings and reports from the American Academy of Pediatrics, American Academy of Sleep Medicine, and American Academy of Sleep Medicine, among others.

“Research has identified that the early hours that students at the older age need to wake-up and in turn be in school is not in-line with the natural circadian rhythms of students which ultimately impacts many health and social emotional factors including the determinantal effect on learning,” read the committee’s report. “Recommendations in the research suggest the ideally middle and high school students start school within the 8:00am hour and closer to 8:30am if possible.”

The Committee identified several factors (“stumbling blocks”) that delay or interfere with the ability to make school start time changes:

• Ramifications of changes on other age group start times
• Fiscal limitations (e.g., additional school buses may be required)
• Athletics
• After-school availability for older students (e.g., part-time work, help supervising younger siblings)

The Committee noted that Wilmington has the earlier start time for its middle school and the third earlier start time for its high school when compared with the other comparable 11 Middlesex districts.

The Committee discussed a number of factors to consider when making changes to the district’s transportation model, including legal parameters, policy parameters, and local practices.

• Legally, the district must provide bus transportation to any K-6 student that lives more than 2 miles from school. There is no legal obligation to provide transportation to 7-12 students.
• Per district policy, the district must provide bus transportation to all K students; any 1-3 student that lives 1 mile from school; any 4-6 student that lives 1.5 mile from school; and any 7-12 student that lives 2 miles from school.
• Despite the policy, the district’s practice is to provide bus transportation to all students — regardless of distance to school or grade level/age.

The district’s budget currently absorbs all transportation costs as there are no bus fees.

The district’s bus transportation model uses an assumption that all 100% of students will take the bus, even though current bus ridership is at 75%.

The Middle School currently uses the most buses (16), followed by North/Woburn Street (12), West/Shawsheen (11), High School (9), Boutwell (4) and Wildwood (4).

The Committee developed 11 scenarios, and narrowed it down to 5 after the transportation coordinator provided additional input.

The Committee aimed to have all 5 scenarios, to the greatest extent possible, achieve the following:

• No students at a bus stop prior to 7am for morning pick-up.
• Target start-time for high school students would range from 7:50am to 8:30am, which would lead to an end time of around 3pm, and no later than 3:15pm,primarly  due to athletics.
• Keeping the school day the same number hours as they currently are.

The Committee also noted that the most additional buses these scenarios would call for is 1.

The Committee’s 5 scenarios are below:

Scenario #1: Keep the order of schools the same, all later by 20 minutes

Scenario #2: Intermediate share times first in/out; Early Childhood Centers share the same start/end times; Shawsheen/West share start & end times and go in first/out last

Scenario #3: Shawsheen & Woburn share same start/end times; West & North share same start/end times; High School & Early Childhood Center same start times/Early Childhood Center gets out with West/North; High School goes in last/ends last

Scenario #4: Middle School time remains the same; Alter elementary start & end times with staggered starts; Make High School the last in and out

Scenario #5: Alter Middle School start times by 15-25 minutes; Alter High School start times by 15-25 minutes; Add 45 minutes to Early Childhood Center day; Alter start/end times of Shawsheen/West by 5 minutes & Woburn/North by 30 minutes

 

Turn to Page 85 of the School Committee Packet for a clearer view of these scenarios.

Surveys to gather feedback from parents/guardians, students and staff will run from late January through February vacation.  The School Committee will receive the survey findings at its March 9, 2022 meeting.

Public forums will likely also be held, including an opportunity for community members to share feedback at the March 23, 2022 School Committee meeting.

The School Committee will vote on its preferred scenario at its April 13, 2022 meeting.

Start time/end time changes would likely go into effect at the beginning of the 2022-2023 School Year.