More than 800 people have signed an online petition protesting the change in school start times in Barrington, but the superintendent said he has no plans to veer from the school committee's directive.

Michael Messore said in an interview on Wednesday, Jan. 20, that his office is moving forward in preparing for the start time changes that will take effect next school year.

He said he was "given a charge" by members of the Barrington School Committee and is fully intent on following through.

"Those people (who signed the petition) have the right to express their opinion," he said.

"We have to go forward on what was voted on by the committee."

On Jan. 7, school committee members Kate Brody, Bob Shea and Patrick Guida voted in favor of altering the start times at Barrington High School and Barrington Middle School — pushing back the 7:45 and 7:40 starts to 8:30. School committee members Anna Clancy and John Alessandro voted against the change.

The move followed the recommendations of the American Academy of Pediatrics and the CDC, which support secondary school start times of 8:30 a.m. or later. Officials cite a number of potential benefits of the later start times, including better grades.

Those opposing the later start times cited a variety of reasons for doing so — they said the district's students are already performing better than the majority of their peers; they said the changes will create scheduling issues for local parents and students; and they said the $430,000 needed to make the change could be spent in other ways to benefit students.

At the school committee meeting Thursday night, Jan. 21, the petition was presented to the board.

Tom Rimoshytus attended the meeting and pressed for the school board to reverse its decision. The former president of the Barrington Booster Club said in a recent interview that he is "worried about losing after-school activities and sports."

"North Kingstown is changing its start time from 7:30 to 8. Why don't we just move ours to 8? That would make everything work," he said.

Mr. Rimoshytus said there are concerns that the later start time and later dismissal time at the high school will negatively impact sports that use facilities outside of the school, such as the swim team which uses the Bayside YMCA pool, and the hockey team which practices at a rink in Cranston.

Barrington High School Director of Athletics and Student Activities George Finn said he has already started contacted the facilities that currently accommodate Barrington teams.

"It's going to take some work on our end," said Mr. Finn. "We'll do what we need to do."

When asked if some students may need to be excused early from class in order to participate in certain sports, Mr. Finn said the district did not want to do that.