Let Olympia School District know your views on proposed changes to school start times

Olympia School District leaders are considering a proposal to move middle and high school start times later and are asking for feedback through an online survey on the district’s website.

Under the proposal:

• High school classes would run from 8:50 a.m. to 3:27 p.m.
• Middle schools would go from either 9 a.m. to 3:32 p.m. or 9:05 a.m. to 3:37 p.m.
• At elementary schools, five schools would run from 7:30 a.m. to 1:52 p.m., four would run from 8 a.m. to 2:22 p.m. and three would go from 8:30 a.m. to 2:52 p.m.

Olympia and Capital high schools now start at 7:45 a.m., while middle schools start between 8 and 8:30 a.m. Most elementary schools start later.

If approved, the changes would take effect in the 2020-21 school year.

A survey this spring found strong support for later school start times for adolescents. An advisory committee of faculty, parents and community members made the recommendation to the school board after months of studying the issue and options.

The current survey, which closes at 5 p.m. Friday, asks how important pushing back start times is, any traffic concerns that should be considered, and whether it is worth spending more on transportation to eliminate the 7:30 a.m. start at five elementary schools and start all schools at 8 a.m. or later.

The proposal follows a national trend of younger students starting earlier and teens starting later to better align with natural wake-up times for each age group.

A University of Washington study last year found a similar change in Seattle public schools starting in the 2016-17 school year led to students getting more sleep and performing better academically.

This story was originally published November 12, 2019 at 6:00 AM.