FAQ: 11/17/23- Present

In 2021, the Wissahickon Board of School Directors adopted a formal goal to examine options for later school start times for secondary students, following scientific research that connects later start times to increased sleep, increased safety, and even improved academics.  Several leading health organizations including the American Academy of Pediatrics, the Centers for Disease Control and the American Psychological Association have published reports and position statements on the dangers of adolescents getting insufficient sleep.  Research indicates that the ideal school start time for secondary students, based on biological sleep rhythms and other factors, is 8:30 a.m. or later.  It also shows that increased sleep can improve things like student concentration, behavior, mood, and memory, can reduce depression rates, and can enhance mental and physical health.  But, it is recognized that later start times also come with a number of challenges.

In 2021, the District assembled a School Start and End Time Advisory Committee, comprised of staff, parents, students, and community members.  With support from the Committee, the District studied various options and surveyed the school community (parents, students, staff) on its preferences.  In January 2023, after studying the proposition for a number of months, the School Board did not bring the issue to a formal vote.  The Board instead chose to continue to study options for a year with a closer, more detailed look at the impact on the school community to be presented to the community in Fall 2023, with opportunities for additional feedback, before a School Board vote will be taken in February 2024.

This year (2023-24), the following issues will be presented in detail at School Board meetings, which can be attended in person or virtually, and which can also be watched afterwards online.  The Board will vote on whether to make a change at its February 5, 2024, public meeting.

• October 30:  School Start and End Time Schedule Details
• November 13:  Busing Details
• December 4:  After School Activities and Athletics Details
• December 11:  Childcare & NMTCC Details
• January 8:  Overall Review & Feedback Opportunity
• January 29:  Continued Review & Feedback Opportunity
• February 5:  Board Vote

Wissahickon High School:  7:37 a.m. - 2:35 p.m.

Wissahickon Middle School:  7:35 a.m. - 2:25 p.m.

K-5 elementary schools:  8:30/8:35 a.m.  - 3:10/3:15 p.m.

The District examined numerous start time scenarios and came up with two viable options for later start times, given the district’s geographic size and density, that are now being examined in detail:

NOTE:  The high school student day is being reduced by 18 minutes in both options.

Changes to the start times of a community’s schools can have a variety of impacts.  Starting school later means schools also dismiss later, which affects after school athletics, extra-curricular activities and other after school aspects of life for students, staff and families.  Other possible areas of impact include, but are not limited to, jobs, volunteer work, childcare, homework, etc.

The Wissahickon School District is responsible for transporting approximately 5,000 public school students, including WHS students enrolled at North Montco Technical Career Center (~75 students), and ~700 nonpublic school students at ~50 schools currently using a two-tier bus system.  NMTCC students ride the bus with WMS/WHS students.  There are some nonpublic school students who also ride a WMS/WHS or elementary bus, then transfer to another bus or are dropped off at their nonpublic schools.  Other nonpublic schools have their own dedicated bus, provided by the district.  Each option under consideration will have an impact on busing for all of these student groups, as well as on the cost of transportation in general.

Wake Up and Learn (WAUL) is a program created by Geisinger health system that focuses on the importance of sleep health, independent of any changes in school start times.  We have partnered with the program to promote better sleep habits for our students.

There are districts that have moved their high school start times up to 8:30am.  Regionally, Radnor and Lower Merion either have done this (Radnor) or will start this in the coming school year (Lower Merion).  Many districts have studied the question (as we are doing), and it is possible for entire states to have the times moved as the result of state legislature action (e.g., California and Florida).  Pennsylvania has periodically had legislation drafted and/or considered, but nothing has been approved to date.

There are studies that suggest a later school start time does have a positive impact on a number of things related to academics and athletics, as well as a positive impact on how much sleep students get on a given night.  An important point in the research is that the amount of sleep matters, but so does the timing of it—adolescents’ biochemistry is such that their “body clocks” naturally push them to fall asleep later at night, and also sleep later in the morning, as compared to younger children or adults.

It would be at least a year-long commitment to implement a new start time regime.  Assessing the impact once it is implemented is a challenging task, given the difficulty in isolating variables.  Since one of the goals is to provide additional sleep for secondary students, we could establish a baseline for the quantity and quality of current sleep times and measure it a year after the change is implemented.  We could also consider developing additional assessment measures that are related to academics and athletics, as well as other facets of life such as other after school activities, mental health, etc., with the caveat that conclusions regarding causation are extremely difficult in any environment that is not a controlled experiment.

The two options that are currently up for consideration and feedback to accommodate a schedule change are as follows: 

Option #1 is a double tiering option, like our current busing schedule, where middle and high school students ride together, followed by elementary students. The district would need to separate NMTCC and private school am routes. This option will cost an additional $220,000 more per year. 
 
Option #2 is a triple tiering option with three separate bus runs for middle, high and elementary school students, in that order. In this scenario, NMTCC and private schools would combine with the middle school runs in the morning. This would require approximately 34 runs to be about 1.5 hours more each day and would cost $475,000 more per year. 

Watch Board Meeting Presentation/Discussion 

To learn more about the scientific research supporting later school start times, click herefor various research-based publications and resources.  Also, the community is invited to watch the presentations from sleep experts who presented at recent WSD board meetings: 

• Sleep Science, by Dr. Anne Marie Morse, Geisinger Health/Founder of Wake Up and Learn 

• Adjusting School Start Time to Support Adolescent Sleep: What the Research Tells Us, by Dr. Jackie Kloss and Dr. Amanda Swain, Behavioral Sleep Medicine Associates 

• A School District Case Study on Later School Start Times, by Radnor Township School District representatives  

The health and well-being of students is a priority for the district, including sleep health. Last year’s meetings and feedback, including last year’s survey results, are factored into the continued discussion and exploration of feasible options. Last year, it was determined that more detailed information was needed in order for the Board and community to fully understand the schedules and impact.  

This was an option early on, but feedback from stakeholders made it clear that a “flipped” arrangement (elementary schools start before secondary schools) was not a good fit in Wissahickon. 

At the December 11, 2023 Board Meeting, Dr. Crisfield will presented details related to related to athletics and after school activities, including jobs, if there was a change in school start and end times. The community is invited to watch the meeting presentation and discussion: Watch Now or View Presentation Slides 

In summary, both options under consideration (listed below) have an impact on afterschool activities/responsibilities as follows:

ATHLETICS:

• Varsity athletes are dismissed early for approximately 9 away contests, missing about 50-90 minutes of class each time. Under Option #1 (Double-tiering), students would miss about the same amount of instruction. Under Option #2 (Triple-tiering), the amount of class time missed will increase, since buses must return for the normal middle school runs.
• To address the loss of instructional time, the district could seek to secure additional bus drivers and ask our opponents to move contest start times later. However, neither is guaranteed.
• To address concerns of students arriving at home later and having less time for other responsibilities, practices could potentially be shortened.
• Late activity bus runs for Grades 6-12 will continue, but will have to be at 5:30pm every day. Late buses currently run at 4:30pm on Tuesday and Thursday.
• To support students' ability to get more sleep, practices and meetings before school would need to be explicitly prohibited.

AFTERSCHOOL CLUBS:

• Extracurricular activities, including clubs, which usually meet after school, would move later (except for Grades 6-8 in Option 2).

STUDENT JOBS:

• Students who work after school will be impacted, needing to work either one hour less or get home from work one hour later.

At the December 11, 2023 Board Meeting, Dr. Crisfield presented information about the impact of later school start/end times on on NMTCC students and possible changes to address concerns. The community is invited to watch the meeting presentation and discussion: Watch Now or View Presentation Slides 

In summary, 

• Wissahickon is one of five local school districts whose high school students attend North Montco Technical Career Center (NMTCC), which operates on a schedule (7:57am -2:15pm) that will not change. Some WSD students attend NMTCC all day, some only in the morning (“AM”) and some only in the afternoon (“PM”).
• Both options for later start/end times create transportation and instructional scheduling conflicts for NMTCC students.
• The total day for AM and all-day students would be 40 minutes longer (which could be a mini study hall). PM students would need to eat lunch on the bus.

At the December 11, 2023 Board Meeting, Dr. Crisfield will presented details related to childcare if there was a change in school start and end times. The community is invited to watch the meeting presentation and discussion: Watch Now or View Presentation Slides 

In summary,

• Currently, 318 students are enrolled the Ambler YMCA for before or afterschool care or both.
• Both options will potentially increase the amount of time needed for before school childcare by about 50 minutes, but aftercare would decrease by the same amount since school ends later.
• There is no impact on a family’s ability to have older siblings be the after-school caregiver (Option 2 might have slight impact if younger middle school students need care).
• The YMCA indicated that they can fully staff the program if either Option #1 or #2 is implemented.
• Important Update to Presentation:

  It has been brought to our attention that while the YMCA waitlists were totally cleared at the beginning of the 2023-24 school year, new applications to the pm session at three of the districts four schools have been submitted, and have not yet been cleared. (28 students in total).
  On 12/12/23, the YMCA reports that they have finished the process of obtaining clearances for, and onboarding, the necessary number of new employees so that these waitlisted students can be cleared, and that care can be offered for them after school. Any families experiencing waitlist delays come January 2024 (or beyond) are to please contact their building principal so that the district administration can address the situation with the YMCA without delay.