What time school should start is an ongoing discussion at Center Grove schools, but a change won’t happen for at least another year, if at all.
A committee formed by the school district to study school start times is continuing to meet to discuss what time schools start now, and whether that is the best fit for students and families.
Next on the list: surveys of students, staff, coaches and parents.
The questions range from whether students have trouble waking up in the morning and how they feel when they arrive at school, asking teachers when their students are most alert and asking parents how a schedule change would impact their family.
The committee will take that information into consideration when developing a proposal for school officials and the school board on whether school start times should change, Center Grove Superintendent Richard Arkanoff said.
Schools across the nation have discussed the idea of changing start times, especially as studies have shown later start times may benefit adolescent students. But Center Grove is the first local school district to seriously consider a change.
School officials have no timeline of when the committee may decide to make a recommendation. If a change is proposed, it won’t happen until at least the 2018-19 school year, Arkanoff said.
And the committee may not recommend a change at all, Arkanoff said.
Multiple factors go into the decision, and changing start times effects several aspects of the school day, from busing to after-school activities, he said.
All of those factors would need to be considered in any potential change, he said.
