Letter: School start time issue has divided Barrington

Posted 1/17/18

To the editor:

I have been following the Town of Barrington’s analysis of shifting school start times since Jan. 2012 when I attended a presentation at Barrington High School which was …

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Letter: School start time issue has divided Barrington

Posted

To the editor:

I have been following the Town of Barrington’s analysis of shifting school start times since Jan. 2012 when I attended a presentation at Barrington High School which was sponsored by the school committee to explore the idea. 

At the time, I knew nothing about adolescent sleep patterns or the benefits of shifting school start times—I truly went with an open mind to learn. At this event, Richard Millman, MD, co-director of the Pediatric Sleep Program at HASBRO Children’s Hospital, lectured about the science of sleep and the effects of insufficient sleep on teens.  

I found it very compelling and could never have predicted how this simple issue would come to divide my community for so many years.

Four years passed. In the fall of 2016, when the Barrington School Committee finally voted to implement a new school start time plan, it not only gave teens a later start time, but it also reduced unnecessarily long bus rides for some students. It was to be a win-win. 

This decision was backed by the school district’s health and wellness committee after years of analysis, then voted on by the school committee, and supported by the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Center for Disease Control. I have many, many friends in town who support this change.

To my great disappointment, the initiative was delayed by a year and then taken off the table the following year due to a budget cut.   

I sincerely hope my town can figure this out and not delay another year. My hope is that a statewide initiative led by Representative Julie Casimiro (D-North Kingstown, Exeter) will help Barrington and all of Rhode Island lead the way on doing what science tells us is best for our kids. 

We figured out all day kindergarten, and we should be able to figure out how to shift school start times. I look to the Superintendent of Barrington and our school committee to champion this effort and make it happen before my sleep-deprived ninth-grader graduates from Barrington High School.

Jennifer Boylan

Barrington

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