Public School Start Times - A thought for Hale Cook

The following email includes some feedback on the school plan for Hale Cook - Derek Richey will be looking into whether any adjustments will be made to the school schedule for the new elementary school but I thought you would be interested to read these thoughts below. 

Hi,

My child will be 4 in July and I am talking to many of her friends about the school. We also attended the info meeting at the library. There is a ton of interest, but I have one very LARGE concern.

The start time is planned for 7:25 (The same as KCMSD), this is just too early. Even in Highschool this start time is know (and has been known for over a decade) to reduce sleep time, academic progress, and increase behavioral issues... as well as being detrimental to the health of the children. By pushing the day back 1 hour to 8:30 you can make a significant improvement to the health and academic progress of these young children with little expenditure. I understand this would possibly require some children to be in before school care who would have been in classes at that time... but for the betterment of the children it would be best to allow those who can give their children a proper night sleep to do so. (which is still 10-12 hours at preK-6th grade, this means the children would need to go to sleep at approx. 6pm to get a full, healthy night of sleep, which is entirely unrealistic).

Along these lines I have concern that there is no half-day option for pre-K (since many children this age are not ready for full day yet), but I'll take one concern at time.

I've listed many sources, and would like to encourage you to consider adjusting this. Breaking from the already failing KCMSD might actually encourage a positive change in their system as well.

Sources:

• Sleep Time Required
• Neg. Effects of this start time in High School
• School Start Time
• School Start Time (with evidence for best practice)
• A Review Article that concludes with the long list of effects on children

Melanie S. Somogie

Parent

Hi Ms. Somogie,

Thank you for the email and research. I have conducted much of this same research too and I have shared it with Dr. Covington. I will follow-up with him within the next couple of weeks and learn about his intentions for the upcoming school year. I will also inquire about whether the early start time this year has impacted achievement negatively or positively in elementary, middle and high schools.

I'd encourage you to submit an enrollment application to Hale Cook if you are interested; in addition, if you are interested in other District Pre-K programs, the deadline is tomorrow (Monday, 2/28).

Best,

Derek