In alignment with LMSD’s Strategic Plan, All Forward, the District strives to provide students with a full array of extracurricular activities. These activities – whether in the arts, athletics or STEM -- provide students opportunities to pursue their passions and interests, excel and feel a sense of belonging within the school community, contributing to better outcomes.
Approximately 50% of high school students participate in athletics, which contribute to their physical and mental well-being and build important skills, such as collaboration and resiliency, as well as providing opportunities for scholarships to further their educations beyond LMSD. Later start times for high school mean later end times as well, decreasing the number of daylight hours for those students to safely practice and compete, thus limiting the benefits they can derive from athletic participation. Lighting the field will enable student athletes enough time for practices and competitions so that they can safely participate and compete with their peers across the Central Athletic League.
Maintaining the ability for students to participate in extracurricular activities was a priority of the original All Forward Research and Development Committee’s Workgroup on Adolescent Sleep and School Start Time. In Spring 2021, the Lower Merion Board of School Directors passed a resolution supporting starting high school in the second tier, pending the approval of lights on Arnold Field.