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Schools

Parkway School Board Set To Decide On Revised Start Times

Goal is to make the academic day more efficient and put students in a better position to succeed.

The Parkway School District has amended proposed changes regarding the length of school days and bell times to take effect in time for the 2011-2012 school year. School board members are scheduled to vote on the new plan Wednesday.

The information used to determine necessary changes came from community feedback obtained by a Project Parkway task force last fall.

A major concern for the task force was the start time for middle schools. Parkway's Director of Communications Paul Tandy said, "The concern was for the health and developmental well-being of the students, not test scores. However, according to research results from the Project Parkway task force, later start times increase academic abilities, lower childhood obesity, as well as other overwhelming factors in favor of the changes."

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Last fall, Oberlin College Professor Nancy Darling wrote about the issues facing middle school students in Psychology Today. "Because middle school tends to come with more homework and new extracurricular activities, in addition to the hanging out time that kids need after school, bedtimes tend to be pushed back," Darling wrote. "Combine these time pressures with the tendency for adolescents' internal clocks to favor late night hours and earlier school start times and you have a recipe for disaster.  Middle schoolers often live in a state of chronic sleep deprivation."

parent Mary Ney has grown accustomed to the earlier start times and prefers them. "But as a former teacher, I understand research shows kids need sleep and later start times are better for their health." said Ney, who is also co-president of the school's PTO. After school activities would be affected; currently show choir ends just before swimming. Ney said "with later start times some overlapping will occur and we will have to make choices."

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The proposed revisions would give all schools the same instructional day, lasting 6 hours and 55 minutes. It would allow middle schools to start approximately one hour later and give those students some extra time to sleep. For a detailed look at the proposed bell times, click on Bell Times

The school board meeting is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at Parkway Central Middle School.

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