The Stonebridge school board is once again debating whether to move the high school’s opening bell to 8:30 a.m., a change backed by a wide body of research on adolescent sleep but tangled, as always, in the practical knot of bus scheduling.
The district runs a single fleet across three tiered start times, which means shifting the high school ripples through the middle and elementary schools whether anyone wants it to or not.
The trade-offs on the table
Administrators laid out the competing pressures at Monday’s meeting, and none of the options is clean:
- A later high school start would likely push elementary pickups earlier, into the dark of winter mornings
- Adding buses to decouple the tiers would cost more than the current budget allows
- After-school sports and jobs would need rescheduling around a later dismissal
Parents were split, and several teachers spoke in favor of the change while acknowledging the logistics. The board asked for a full transportation study before any vote, meaning the decision, if it comes, will not arrive before the next budget cycle.
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Further reading: School buses
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