Sleep & School Start Times

• To view the presentation on Full-Day Kindergarten & Healthy Start Times from the 2022 Community Meetings, click here.
• FAQs from Fall 2022 Community Meetings

UPDATE: At the Jan. 23, 2023, meeting of the Lower Merion Board of School Directors, the Board approved a resolution authorizing the District Administration to move forward with community, staff, and student engagement strategies regarding the proposed ordering of school start times as follows:

• The middle school day begins first, at 8:00 a.m. and ends at 2:50 p.m.
• The high school day begins second at 8:40 a.m. and ends at 3:30 p.m.
• The elementary school day begins last at 9:20 a.m. and ends at 4:05 p.m.

Additionally, the Administration will continue to determine the operational costs and potential mitigation measures associated with implementing this schedule. This information, together with the vital community, staff, and student feedback, will be used to inform the Board’s next steps regarding, among other things, the timeline for implementation.

The presentation from that meeting is available here. The video of the meeting will be available here. An infographic highlighting the key points described below is available here.

Key Points:

• Why is LMSD changing school schedules?
  • With the onset of puberty, changes occur in the biological systems that regulate the sleep/wake cycle. Teens’ natural urge to sleep is delayed until later in the evening than children or adults. This shift, when coupled with early start times, makes the prospect of getting a good night’s sleep challenging for many teenagers. Major medical and health organizations, recognizing the toll that sleep deprivation takes on student health and wellness, recommend beginning high school classes no earlier than 8:30 a.m. to give adolescents the best opportunity to get the sleep they need to start the school day and stay alert and ready to learn.
• Prior Board Action
  • In October 2020, the Board passed a unanimous motion demonstrating their commitment to starting high schools in the second tier of a three-tiered schedule, pending approval of permanent light on high school athletic fields
• Current schedule
  • High School starts at 7:30 a.m., ends at 2:40 p.m. for a total time of 7 hours, 10 minutes
  • Middle School starts at 8:15 a.m., ends at 3:05 p.m. for a total time of 6 hours, 50 minutes
  • Elementary School starts at 9:00 a.m., ends at 3:35 p.m. for a total time of 6 hours 25 minutes
• Proposed schedule to begin in September 2023
  • Middle School starts at 8:00 a.m., ends at 2:50 p.m. (no change in length of day)
  • High School starts at 8:40 a.m., ends at 3:30 p.m. (20-minute decrease in length of day)
  • Elementary School starts at 9:20 a.m., ends at 4:05 p.m. (10-minute increase in length of day)
• Some challenges
  • Across all levels:
    • Potential impact on transportation for student trips
    • Finding drivers to staff later runs
    • Concerns for earliest/latest pickup/drop-off times
    • Cumulative impact on staff and families of COVID and K-8 Transition
  • Elementary
    • Childcare hardship in mornings for families
    • Late end time impact on child fatigue & behavior
    • Delayed after school activities compromises earlier bedtimes
    • Impact of longer day on student experience
    • Impact on time for staff prep/meetings
    • Late start doesn't take advantage of early attentiveness
  • Middle
    • Early start time does not meet AAP recommendations
    • MS girls have disparate impact due to earlier puberty
    • Earlier end time may result in unsupervised time at home
  • High School
    • Impact on teaching & learning due to 20-minute decrease in instructional time
    • Impact on Vo-Tech & other non-traditional programs
    • Compromise after school activities & jobs
    • Lights & other accommodations needed for activities/events

Opportunities for stakeholder feedback:

A schedule for stakeholder input opportunities will be shared on this, via School Messenger, and LMSD’s social media accounts.

You can email your comments to sleep@lmsd.org, especially in regard to:

• How will this schedule impact you/your family
• What can be done to make this work for you/your family
• Any other thoughts/feedback

ADDITIONAL BACKGROUND:

Lights on Arnold Field:

In 2020 after a series of community listening sessions, the Lower Merion Board of School Directors approved a move to later start times for high school students, dependent on approval of the District’s application to install lights at Lower Merion High School’s Arnold Field.

The proposed lighting would be the minimum necessary to ensure the safety of student athletes and the ability to use Arnold Field in the evenings. It would enable the District to move forward with plans to implement later school start times for high school students, to better align with adolescent sleep patterns and to improve the mental and physical health of thousands of students each year. Without the lights, LM’s student athletes (approximately 50% of students) will not able to practice and compete safely throughout the fall sports season if later start times were to be implemented.

District representatives continue to meet with community members, including the Wynnewood Civic Association, to discuss lighting plans that will be acceptable to all stakeholders.

The School Board’s decision to support later start times came after a series of listening sessions on the subject of school start times in December 2020.

Prior documents and presentations:

• Fall 2019 Infographic
• Summary video from Fall 2019
• October 24, 2019, Special Meeting of the Board
• Information Library from the Research and Development Workgroup
• FAQs

• December 25, 2022 - Meeting Notes