Wake is putting off changing high school start times again. Here’s why this time.
A long-discussed plan to change high school start times so teens could get more sleep is being pushed back again by the Wake County school system.
The Wake County school board had been looking at changing bell schedules as soon as the 2024-25 school year so that teens no longer would have to get to school by 7:25 a.m.
But school board members this week cited the shortage of bus drivers and mixed parental feedback to say that the 2025-26 school year would now be the earliest they’d consider a districtwide change.
Board members asked staff to explore a pilot program to try later start times at some high schools.
The impact of new start times would be so sweeping on parents, students and school employees that district leaders say at least a year’s advance notice would be needed before a districtwide change is made.
“It likely would not be something that would be in place for the ‘24-25 school year but after that as we’d need to build a long runway for families and communities for any changes,” said Superintendent Catty Moore.
Sleep research
Wake uses a three-tier system in which the same bus makes multiple runs in the morning and afternoon. This reduces the number of buses that are needed.
In the first tier, high schools are in class from 7:25 a.m. to 2:18 p.m. Middle schools are on the second tier and run from 8:15 a.m to 3 p.m. Elementary schools are on the third tier and run from 9:15 a.m. to 3:45 p.m.
The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that middle and high schools begin at 8:30 a.m. or later to better align with the circadian rhythms of adolescents. It’s one of the reasons that California requires high schools to start no earlier than 8:30 a.m.
Limited resources
To gauge community interest, Wake surveyed people about having elementary schools run from 7:30 a.m. to 2 p.m., middle schools from 8:15 a.m. to 3 p.m. and high schools from 9:15 a.m. to 4:10 p.m.
The survey responses showed high school parents leaned toward the later start time but elementary school prefer keeping the current schedule.
Additionally, changing start times would impact things such as after-school sports and work schedules for students and school employees.
“The feedback that we’ve got is that we know we’ve got strong opinions on both sides,” said school board vice chair Chris Heagarty. “We’ve got some people who really want a change, and we’ve got some people who really don’t want a change. We have limited resources to make any sweeping changes at this point.”
Other options that have been discussed including starting all schools at least 30 minutes later.
Complicating the situation is that Wake is dealing with a 32% bus driver vacancy rate that’s already disrupting service on a daily basis..
“The transportation piece is so critical that we have to get everything in line first,” said school board member Sam Hershey. “But more information is welcome.”
This story was originally published May 4, 2023 at 8:00 AM.
