By Sarah Opdahl
At the Thursday, October 19 New Fairfield Board of Education (BOE) meeting there was a lengthy presentation on the Healthy Start Time Initiative, which involves possibly moving to a later start time for high schoolers. A frequent topic before the pandemic, the start time conversation has rekindled now that construction is waning and traffic patterns are set at the high/middle school campus. Superintendent Dr. Ken Craw gave an overview of the initiative, which, if approved, would begin in the 2024-2025 school year, while the school’s transportation consultant presented research findings and timing options. The idea is to marry the start time of the middle and high school to allow for healthier, more rested students, but there would also be operational efficiencies.
It was noted that New Fairfield High School’s start time of 7:15 a.m. is one of the earliest in the region. It results in bus pickups in the mid-6:00 hour and students likely waking up at 5:45 a.m. Craw emphasized that the teenage circadian rhythm is such that many naturally shift to going to sleep later. As a result, students can be sleep deprived and may experience a variety of issues, including diminished performance.
In addition to more rest, it was explained that from an operational standpoint in the school system, having the middle and high school on the same schedule may allow for some efficiencies in terms of shared staff, as well as the ability for instructional coaches to work with teachers at the same schedule in between the middle and high school. Right now they need to adjust their schedules to address the different start and end times. One area that was thoroughly studied is the athletic schedules, as there was fear they would be too complicated to sort out. However, many area schools have already moved to a later schedule, so athletics may work well. It was stressed that mindful scheduling and partnering with other districts will be necessary.
Craw explained, “we’re at a point this fall where the information is being synthesized and the board will ultimately be in a position to make a decision by the end of the calendar year to align with the budget process and see what impact, if any, start time would have on the budget.” There will be bargaining unit implications as well as careful research into the correct bus service to partner with. The First Student contract is coming up, which aligns with the potential shift. Requests for Proposals are going out, which will be followed by bids.
The corresponding transportation study, which was presented by third party consultant Mr. Chris Wojciechowski offered two options: an 8:00 a.m. start time and a 2:45 p.m. end time or a 7:50 a.m. start time and a 2:40 p.m. end time. He said, “We are seeing a trend throughout a lot of the Northeast with districts shifting their high school start times later in the day to see better performance academically. Obviously when you make that shift, there are going to be some consequences and things that you have to juggle and kind of consider and transportation is a pretty big one.”
Matching the high and middle school times “means you would have your middle schoolers and your high schoolers riding on the same bus to the school district,” Wojciechowski said. His company collected copious data on the routes that the nineteen New Fairfield buses run and the ridership on those routes. In reviewing, they calculated the typical percentage of riders and determined with the inefficiencies that exist now with three start times, that the district can run the same or nearly the same number of buses and routes, even though both schools will be on the pickups.
“You are not really utilizing your buses to the fullest,” Wojciechowski said, “at the middle school and high school level, we usually see a ridership versus the amount of students scheduled to ride the bus between 30 and 60%…we put in 65% as our maximum anticipated ridership.” The change would require the bus contractor to alter a little bit how they route, “right now there’s a lot of intersecting routes and that’s because the contract is really picking up the routes linearly,” instead he says there should be a mindset change in planning the routes. Wojciechowski pointed out that some consideration is needed regarding how athletic runs are contracted and the types of buses that are chosen. Those with undercarriage storage do not require a second bus to follow. He also said that the district can expect fuel savings with the overall shift in bus strategy.
In his Chairmen’s Report, Mr. Dominic Cipollone reflected on global current events and said, “I really think it is so important that all of our educators focus on helping young people seek the truth and really understand things and go deeper and identify and help to help them to understand what’s happening not only in our local community, but in the bigger picture. I think it’s critical for our teachers, particularly our social studies teachers and our humanities teachers, to help young people understand history.” He went on to say, “I think it’s extremely important for our high school students to be prepared to enter the world beyond New Fairfield.” Locally, he was disappointed that a potential debate hosted by the high school and led by students was derailed, “we were trying to have a civics forum for our political candidates and there was some resistance and pushback on that. And I can’t help but just try to wonder why, if we want our young people to be engaged in the political process, why wouldn’t we have done everything in our power to make sure our students got to see our candidates?”
Both Cipollone and BOE member Mr. Greg Flanagan, in board member comments, commented on some letters in the Town Tribune’s Letters to the Editor referencing untrue or misleading information. “Let’s stick with the facts,” Cipollone said.
Craw was excited to announce a community forum on Tuesday, October 24 at 6:30 p.m. in the high school’s Dining Commons to cover and discuss the results of last year’s high school attitudes and behaviors survey. The evening is intended to fully engage participants in a “conversation with the community” regarding the results, but also to brainstorm how best to empower and support young people in New Fairfield. The event will include a presentation, followed by breakdown sessions.
Craw pointed out that this is “a good opportunity to come out and have this conversation about how our students are doing, we will bring up topics such as substances” and “how you feel in terms of the opportunities that are available to them in the community to voice their opinions.”
The next regular Board of Education meeting is scheduled for Thursday, November 2, 7:30 p.m.