The Barrington School Department and School Committee will host a special forum focused on the upcoming school start time changes. The forum will be held on Thursday, April 25, at 7 p.m. inside the Barrington High School library.

The forum has been planned to answer questions people may have about the school start time changes and district scheduling, as officials prepare for the implementation of a new district-wide two-tier busing schedule that will start in the 2019-2020 school year.

Thursday night's forum will offer people the chance to rotate through six small group stations and speak with presenters. The district has invited sleep expert Dr. Mary Carskadon and sleep and mental health specialist Dr. Karen Horowitz to the forum. Dr. Carskadon and Dr. Horowitz work at Bradley Hospital. 

Barrington Superintendent of Schools Michael Messore will speak at one station about the two-tier transportation system and what it will mean for the district and local families. 

Assistant superintendent Dr. Paula Dillon will speak about the collaboration of elementary schools at one station, and the schools finance director Doug Fiore will speak about the budgetary return on investment at another station. 

Also, Barrington High School Principal Joe Hurley and AD George Finn will share information about how the two-tier busing and start time changes will impact athletic teams and clubs at the schools.

"The purpose of this small group format is to allow community members the opportunity to gain an in-depth understanding in a short period of time," stated a press release from the school department. "At the end of the workshop, there will be an opportunity for the full group to come together to receive answers to any questions or wonderings that were shared or presented during the evening."

The school committee had discussed the forum during its meeting on April 11. The student representative to the school committee had suggested that officials should include a student perspective from a district that had experience a similar start time change. Officials had said they would investigate that possibility.

Also at the April 11 meeting, school committee members voted to amend the previous school schedule vote from March 2016 in support of the two-tier busing schedule for the upcoming school year.