By Gabriel Matnog and Cristopher Correa
On Wednesday, December 6th, 2017, The Boston Public School Committee unanimously decided to change the start and end times for its elementary and high schools.
This new decision will not be in effect until the 2018-2019 school year. High schools will reportedly start later than 8 a.m while elementary schools will end sometime before 4 p.m. In an interview with WCVB 5 Boston, Boston Public Schools Superintendent, Dr. Tommy Chang stated he “will push back the start time for High schools and move up start times for elementary”. The prime motive for this decision is to hopefully allow children and teenagers to get more rest so they pay attention more in classes.
City officials believe that it could actually raise grades and focus levels in the classroom. Research conducted by the AMA (American Medical Association) stated that, “the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that teenagers between 14 and 17 years of age should get 8.5 to 9.5 hours of sleep per night to achieve optimal health and learning”. This means that the more sleep that teenagers like those at Malden High School, get, the better performance they have in the classroom. This could ultimately lead to maximum focus in the classroom and a better learning environment.
Boston Public Schools have released a new schedule for schools but it is not official, leaving it subject to change. All schools will be projected to start sometime between 7:15 and 9:30 am and end sometime between 12:50 and 4:50 depending on the day of the week.
This puts lots of stress on school officials and families as they have to plan different commute times to and from school accordingly. Students may also have to walk in the dark during winter, due to some schools having a later release time. However, these new start times may prove beneficial to the majority of students.
It is still unclear if this new change will be adopted by surrounding towns and cities such as Malden and it is still too early to determine the effect on students.
