Approved 2008-09 school calendar sets High School start
time at 8 a.m.
The School Board has approved a school calendar for 2008-2009 that has High
School students starting their day a half-hour later than they do today.
The board voted 5-0 on April 8 to approve the calendar, which includes a
post-Labor Day start, fewer early-release days for teacher workshops, and
an end to the weeklong Thanksgiving break that Cape Elizabeth students have
had over the last few years.
The most controversial element of the approved calendar, however, is a change
in the daily start and dismissal times for Cape Elizabeth High School. High
School students currently begin their day at 7:30 a.m., and end at 2 p.m.,
but next year the day will run from 8 a.m.-2:30 p.m.
Members of the School Board said they plan to continue to poll both students
and staff to see whether the later start time has the desired effect - to
facilitate student learning.
The calendar committee, a subcommittee of the board's policy committee, has
long considered the effect of early morning class times on teenage learning.
Research has shown that adolescents tend to learn better later in the morning,
and committee members were impressed by the examples of other communities
that have instituted later school hours.
However, representatives of the High School's student council attended the
meeting to oppose the change, citing a survey showing that students object
to the later start time by a margin of 2-to-1. The primary reason was an
adverse effect on after-school activities, including work; sports; and other
school and non-school related commitments.
Students held that beginning the school day later will push other activities
later into the afternoon and evening, encouraging them to stay up later to
complete homework. Some students may not be able to get to after-school jobs
if the release time is later, and, others may need to leave classes early
to get to other after-school activities. They also spoke on behalf of High
School staff who may have trouble finding child care during the new hours.
They encouraged the board to take the student's opinion into consideration,
but board members said they already had.
"We did listen to you, we did consider your viewpoint and those of others,
and that was why we sort of compromised with the 8 a.m. time," said board
member Trish Brigham, chairman of the calendar committee.
Committee members looking to give students more morning sleep time originally
envisioned a 9 a.m. start to the High School day. But concerns over
extra-curricular activities and late-night homework, as well as concerns
from staff, resulted in a compromise start time of 8 a.m.
Brigham said she and other committee members are committed to monitoring
the situation, and will look at it again next year. "If nobody likes it,
we'll go back to the way it was, or, if people like it and say they really
would like to to be an hour (later), the we move it back even further," Brigham
said.
The proposed High School day is similar to Falmouth's 8 a.m.-2:25 p.m. day.
Falmouth is in the same conference as Cape Elizabeth in most of its
extracurricular activities. Brigham said the committee consulted with the
district's athletic director, who said after-school conflicts with an 8 a.m.
start time should be minimal.
Under the new calendar, the High School would begin at 8 a.m. Middle School
would start at 7:55 a.m. and Pond Cove would begin at 8:35 a.m. Both Middle
School and Pond Cove start times are 5 minutes later than they are now.
As part of the calendar plan, the School Department will combine bus runs
to the High School and Middle School. Although this is seen as a cost savings,
board members stressed that the change in High School hours is intended to
help students learn. "We come from a place where we care about the learning
that happens in the school," board member Rebecca Millett told High School
students who spoke at the meeting, adding that she understood their frustration.
"You're going to be the guinea pigs, and nobody wants to do that," she said.
Board chairman Kathy Ray said that developing the calendar each year is an
annual exercise in balancing the needs of all members of the school community.
As an example, the committee always needs to balance the needs of parents
with the need for staff planning time. "I don't think there's a calendar
out there that could possibly satisfy everybody at this point," Ray said.
The vote to approve was unanimous. Board members Jack Kennealy and Peter
Cotter were absent.
The calendar puts the first student day on Tuesday, Sept. 2. Election Day,
Nov. 4, and the day before are teacher workshop days, which should alleviate
congestion at the High School polling place during the presidential election.
Thanksgiving recess is scheduled for Wednesday-Friday, Nov. 26-28. In recent
years, the Monday and Tuesday before Thanksgiving have been teacher workshop
days.
The last day of school is June 15, assuming no snow days. Five snow days
will put the last day of school at June 22, 2009.
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