Archive 2022-23: Start and End Time Options

Later school start times create scheduling issues for WMS and WHS athletic teams who compete with schools that maintain traditional game times. Our student-athletes would miss additional instructional time because of early dismissals for away and home competitions.

Middle school students (grades 7-8) participate in the MCAA (Montgomery County Athletic Association) under the PIAA and high school interscholastic athletic teams (grades 9-12) participate in the PIAA Suburban One League. The League determines game/competition start times for all participating school districts. Only one other district in the Suburban One league (Quakertown SD) has changed its high school start time to begin at 8:15am, and it is considering changing back to earlier start times because of the amount of lost instruction time for student-athletes. 

Students who participate in travel and recreational leagues would also be impacted, perhaps reducing the time between their after-school activities and evening practices and events.

Another potential impact is the need for additional outdoor lighting for activities pushed further into the evening, particularly near or after daylight saving ends.

How many students does this impact?

• At WHS, 583 students, approximately 43%, are engaged in some type of school-sponsored sport with many students enrolled in multiple activities.
• At WMS, 510 students participate in MCAA sports. 

How would this impact coaches?

• Changes schedules for coaches/advisors who may have conflicts with later practices/games/meetings 
• Teachers will have to adjust lesson plans to make up for missed classes/instruction
• May result in coaches/advisors changing to morning practices/meetings, which would cancel out the benefit of later start times 
• Potential shortage of coaches/advisors 
• Increases need for partial-day substitutes for teachers/staff who coach teams and may need early dismissal due to a competition.  

How much instructional time could be missed?

Students typically leave at 1:00-1:30 p.m. for away games. With later dismissal times, students would also need early dismissal for home games (currently 2:25/2:35 p.m.) to allow time for warm-ups and would lose instructional time. 

• WHS: The number of away games/matches varies by sport. Some teams have up to 22 competitions. The estimated loss of instruction time varies between 16-30 hours.
• WMS: Each fall sport has approximately five (5) away games/matches. Some teams have up to seven (7) away games/matches. Each teacher/coach and student-athletes will each lose (on average) 6 to 8 classes per season (approximate loss of 10 and 15 hours in instructional time). 

	Impact
Option 1:	For league away games, students could miss 1.5 – 2.0 hours of instruction. For league home games, students could miss 0.5 – 1.0 hour of instruction.
Option 2:	For league away games, students could miss 2.5-3 hours of instruction. For league home games, students could miss 1.5-2 hours of instruction

Is there a viable solution?

There is no viable way to adjust the schedules of our student-athletes to avoid the loss of instruction time. At the high school, where the impact is greatest, the WHS schedule is delineated in detail in the collective bargaining agreement with the teachers’ union, so even if we did want to somehow adjust the rotating/drop nature of the WHS schedule (and give up the benefits those features provide), that would require bargaining (note, the middle school schedule is not spelled out in the bargaining agreement). 

Even if we COULD adjust student-athletes’ schedules, given that we have so many, that would start to create a cohort effect in the day (in a sense, an “athlete track”) where all athletes had, for instance, a study hall hardwired into the last period of the day.  That would mean their academic classes would be more often earlier in the day than their non-athlete peers, and the resulting ‘tracking’ effect would be something we normally try to avoid at all costs.

Is there an associated cost with a schedule change? 

No “dollar” cost associated, other than some possible, minor costs associated with substitute teachers.  The “opportunity” cost of the lost instruction is, of course, very real (if hard to reliably quantify).

­Leading healthcare organizations recognize insufficient sleep for adolescents as an important public health issue that significantly affects their health and safety, as well as academic success. Furthermore, research indicates that the ideal start time for secondary students is 8:30am or later (based on biological sleep rhythms of adolescents) and the ideal number of hours of sleep for adolescents is 8.5-9.5 hours.

Option 1 provides 30 minutes additional sleep for secondary students but does not meet the recommendations by major healthcare organizations to provide a school start time of no earlier than 8:30 am. Options 2 meets recommendations for all schools except NMTCC. 

	Impact
Option 1:	Does not meet sleep recommendations for WMS and WHS All students start school during daylight hours Does not provide any sleep benefits to NMTCC students who would still start school at the same time
Option 2:	Meets sleep recommendations for all schools All students start school during daylight hours  Does not provide any sleep benefits to NMTCC students who would still start school at the same time

 

Both options for later start and end times would have a potential impact on families and staff members who need childcare before and/or after school for younger students. 

Currently, the YMCA provides before- and/or after-school childcare for 225 Wissahickon students. Before school care begins at 7am and after care begins at dismissal and runs through 6pm.

In the 2022-23 school year, the program has reached capacity in our elementary schools for the afternoon session. YMCA representatives shared that childcare services may be expanded if staffing is available.

	Impact
Option 1:	WMS and WHS students could continue to help with after school care of younger family members if needed but parents may need additional before school care since elementary schools start later
Option 2:	WMS and WHS students could continue to help with after school care of younger family members if needed but parents may need additional before school care since elementary schools start later

What is the associated financial impact?

Identifying a cost estimate depends on several things (age of students, age of siblings, caregiver work commitments, etc.). It could be nothing, or it could be substantial depending on circumstances.

Monthly rates for the YMCA childcare program for the 2022-2023 school year are below (note: an annual increase is expected next year).

• YMCA After School Care: $358
• YMCA Before School Care: $228
• YMCA Before & After School Care: $523 

Is there a viable solution?

The impact on a family’s childcare needs will vary, from no impact to a large impact, as noted above. As a result, it is hard to pinpoint with any precision a general “solution” to childcare “needs” (so broadly defined).

Starting school later means schools also dismiss later, which affects the timing of school-sponsored and out-of-school clubs/activities. Options 1 and 2 would require school club meetings/activities to end later in the day. Students who participate in community-based programs/activities would also be impacted (possibly preventing participation in those programs). 

How many students does this impact?

• At WHS, 927 students, approximately 68%, are engaged in some type of school-sponsored club with many students enrolled in multiple activities. 
• At WMS, 437 students participate in after-school clubs/activities, including 25 6th graders who participate in after-school sports (2022 rosters).

How would this impact advisors?

• Changes schedules for advisors who may have conflicts with later meetings/activities 
• Potential shortage of advisors 

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 at WHS create transportation and instructional scheduling conflicts for NMTCC students as follows:

• AM NMTCC students will need separate transportation to NMTCC for options 1 and 2.
• PM NMTCC students will miss more WHS instructional time because they will still need to leave WHS at the same time of day as they do now.  Currently, they take four classes in the morning, but with Options 2, they would only take three classes in the morning. An online class through the Wissahickon Virtual Academy is possible but raises concerns about what courses students would take. Math and English Language-Arts will be an issue, given the lack of a direct instruction special education class and IEP support.  

How many students does this impact?

In 2022-23, 78 WHS students are enrolled at NMTCC (32 in AM session, 31 in the PM session, and 15 full-time).   

Is there a viable solution?  

Maybe.  As discussed above, the solution will involve PM students taking a virtual class (instead of an in-person class at WHS), which is viable as long as the student’s IEP does not require a level of support in language arts or math that cannot consistently be provided in a virtual setting.  Or, as long as the virtual class can be something other than language arts or math.  As a result, the viability of this solution can only be determined on a case-by-case basis.

Is there an associated cost with a schedule change?   

Yes. The additional NMTCC transportation costs are included with the additional cost of all other transportation changes for each of the four options (see “Transportation” section below).  There will also be costs associated with providing virtual classes to the PM students—those are difficult to estimate at this time, but can likely be absorbed by the district’s existing budget for virtual classes.

All options that push back school start and end times could impact access to jobs or volunteer work for students in the afternoon. Later end times will also impact any other after school responsibilities students may have.

WSD is responsible for transporting approximately 5,000 public school students, including WHS students enrolled at North Montco Technical Career Center (NMTCC) (78 students), and 649 nonpublic school students at 50 schools currently using a two-tier bus system. NMTCC students ride the bus with WMS/WHS students, and there are some nonpublic school students who also ride a WMS/WHS or elementary bus, then transfer to another bus or are dropped off to their private schools.  Other nonpublic schools have their own dedicated bus, provided by WSD.

Pushing back start times might (depending on the option as noted below) require the district to switch from a two-tier busing system to three-tiers.  A three-tier busing system adds additional bus runs for NMTCC and nonpublic schools that operate on school schedules that will not change, OR WSD students in grades 6-12 no longer riding the same bus. This will result in increased costs for buses, drivers, and/or extended hours for drivers at a time when WSD and other districts are experiencing bus and driver shortages. 

Are any of the options viable based on the current bus driver shortages?

At this time, we cannot be certain that we can acquire additional bus drivers or bus runs, at ANY cost, to make these options work. A related concern is that if we change the times to later in the morning and afternoon, some drivers might resign from WSD and take other busing jobs that match their needs better. These variables are impossible to ascertain due to the fluid, and tight labor market for bus drivers.  

	Impact	Estimated Cost
Option 1:	Increased busing costs for separating the current efficiencies of combined public/nonpublic and NMTCC runs Possible increase in traffic and commute time because of the change in traffic patterns Students will walk to school or wait at the bus stop in the morning during daylights hours. WHS and WMS students may walk home in the dark after school if they participate in afterschool activities	$217,000
Option 2:	Increased busing costs for separating the current efficiencies of combined public/nonpublic and NMTCC runs Will need to run separate NMTCC buses Students will walk to school or wait at the bus stop in the morning during daylight hours. WHS and WMS students may walk home in the dark after school if they participate in afterschool activities	$339,000