Letter: There was plenty of time to discuss school start time change

Posted 3/2/16

To the editor:

As a concerned parent and physician, I was very pleased by the Barrington School Committee vote on Jan. 7 to change our start time from 7:40 a.m. to 8:30 for high school and 7:45 to 8:36 for middle school students.

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Letter: There was plenty of time to discuss school start time change

Posted

To the editor:

As a concerned parent and physician, I was very pleased by the Barrington School Committee vote on Jan. 7 to change our start time from 7:40 a.m. to 8:30 for high school and 7:45 to 8:36 for middle school students.

The research clearly backs this up as does any awareness of 11- to 18-year-olds. You do not need to be a trained physician to notice that your child has changed and that going to bed later and waking up later is now part of their natural rhythms.

This however, is about process, rights and responsibilities.

After the vote, which was the culmination of four long years of hard work and open discussion, the debate should have been over so focus could shift to effective implementation. Instead, ‘United for Success’, led by Dr. Lisa Daft, has circulated a petition demanding that the school committee reopen this already decided matter.

Let’s look at the process as it happened.

Start time change was added into the strategic plan in 2012 after Richard Millman MD, gave an open presentation at BHS in Jan. 2012 about the science of teen sleep. Dr. Millman is the co-director of the pediatric sleep program at Hasbro Children’s Hospital. Both the School Committee and Health and Wellness Committee had this on their agendas many times in 2013 and 2014. In 2015, school start times were discussed at 10 different BSC meetings. They were: 01-22-15, 02-12-15, 07-09-15, 07-30-15, 08-27-15, 10-01-15, 10-15-15, 11-05-15, 12-03-15, 12-17-15. These public meetings start at 7:30 p.m. with open discussion around 8:30. Health and wellness committee open meetings were held 03-04-15, 05-06-15, 09-02-15, 10-07-15, 11-18-15, 12-02-15. The group meets from 8:30 to 9:30 a.m. H&WC reports back to the school committee, at each BSC meeting.

This means there were 16 meeting dates in the 2015 year in which Dr. Daft could have shown up to express her opinion about start time changes as is her right. She did not. Before the vote was held on Jan. 7, Dr. Daft again could have expressed her opinion as is her right. She and most of the others again chose not to. On Jan. 7, there were approximately 40 to 45 people present. During the open comment, 12 people asked to maintain the current schedule, and 14 people spoke in favor of the 8:30 start time which was then passed by our School Committee 3-2.

In a democracy, it is residents’ responsibility to participate. When we vote, or do not vote; speak up or stay silent, the process moves along with or without us. This has been a very transparent process and one in which many have participated. It is time for our town to move forward and implement the decision made by our elected officials.

Differences aside, it is time to work together to implement start time change now so we can all get some much needed rest.

Paul J. O’Brien, Jr.

Barrington

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