This committee was disolved on May 14, 2019

Any questions regarding this committee's work should be directed to the Superintendent's Office.

Purpose

The purpose of the School Start Times Advisory Committee will be to study the feasibility of adjusting school start times in Franklin based on current research related to children and sleep. The Advisory Committee will also consider any proposed changes within the local context. Representatives from the Advisory Committee will present their findings and possible recommendations for the School Committee to consider. Changes to school start times, if any, are to be decided by the Franklin School Committee.

October, 2018 Update

The School Start Times Advisory Committee has been meeting since March 2018 in order to examine the prospect of adjusting school start times to be more consistent with what a multitude of research studies show about sleep and adolescents. We know that the biological clock shifts for adolescents and they begin to sleep later and stay up longer as a result of natural changes in their brains. Yet, they still need at least 8 hours of sleep. School start times often do not coincide with these natural rhythms and, as a result, many school districts are adjusting the start of high school and sometimes middle school to begin later in the morning.

Adjusting start times within any community can be a complex endeavor, with many potential consequences for families, for employees, for the school district, and for the community. As a result, the School Committee developed the School Start Times Advisory Committee to study the possibility of adjusting start times locally in Franklin.  The committee will make recommendations to the School Committee in the winter/spring of 2018.  It is anticipated that any change, if approved, would go into effect 2020-2021 or later.

The advisory committee has split the work among six subcommittees.  Small groups are studying

• Research on sleep and adolescents

• Impacts on before school programs and childcare

• Impacts on after school programs and childcare

• Implications for transportation

• School start times in other Districts

• Implications for employees

This committee was disolved on May 14, 2019

• Committee Members

• Instructions & Resources

• Parent/Guardian Education Night Presentation

• SSTAC - Memo's

• SSTAC - Summary Paper

• SSTAC Agendas

• SSTAC Recommendation to School Committee 3/26/19

• School Committee

• School Start Times FAQ's

• School Start Times Presentation II 9/24/19

• School Start Times Surveys

• The Universe of Adolescent Sleep Presentation (Dr. Judith Owens)