Rochester School Board considers changes to school start times

Rochester’s high schoolers may be able to sleep in just a little bit longer next year, as Rochester Public Schools weighs the the pros and cons of moving the opening bell past the 8 o’clock hour.

Members of the Bell Committee, a special body that suggests start and end times for the various schools in RPS’s system, met on Monday to discuss moving the start of school for middle and high schoolers past the current time of 7:40 a.m. Several plans were discussed at the meeting, with new start times ranging from 8 to 8:30 a.m.

School Board Chair Deborah Seelinger said the task of changing start times would be daunting and multi-faceted — but worth it.

“I feel like we have to rise to the challenge,” said Seelinger. “If we believe it’s best for our high school students to start later, then we — collectively, as a community — will have to figure out a way to serve our students.”

Less than one percent of Minnesota’s 522,000 middle and high school students started school before 8 a.m., according to a 2015 CDC study. The numbers come out to about 4,700 students statewide starting school before 8 a.m. — the majority of them going to school in Rochester.

The study also stated less than one-third of American high schoolers were getting eight hours of sleep each night and called school start times the “chief determinant of wake times.” Later starts, according to the study, improves students’ mental and physical health, as well as their academics. (The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends high schoolers to start school no earlier than 8:30 a.m.)

Staff, parents and students were surveyed on the topic beforehand, to give the district an idea of the public’s opinion on the proposed changes. Both adults and students were vocal about the need for quality sleep.

“No student should have to stay up until 11 to do homework and have to wake up before six to catch a bus,” one adult wrote in the survey. 

The challenge: busing

Rochester’s staggered-start approach, however, makes it difficult to change start times without adding significant costs. Currently, district buses can be used at all three levels of schooling, meaning a bus driver must be able to drop off students at a high school by 7:40 a.m. then immediately head out on their elementary school route to get those students to school by 9:15 a.m. A change to this system would put a strain on the district’s finances, already running a $5.3 million deficit.

The plans presented to the committee could be divided into two camps: those that are cost-neutral and those that would require structural change. Cost-neutral plans would leave the staggered-start intact and extend the start times of all three schools. I.e., Under one plan, teenagers would start at 8:30 a.m. (middle schoolers finishing at 3:07 p.m., high schoolers at 3:40) and elementary school would run 9:50 a.m. to 4 p.m.

The more costly changes discussed would invert the current model: elementary students would start first, with the teenagers following soon after. All three schooling levels would start within the 8 o’clock hour, though, making staggered-start busing next to impossible.

Representatives from First Student, the district’s busing company, said changes to the current plan would require more buses, and therefore more drivers. Finding drivers in Rochester is tough, he said, noting that the current workload has been difficult to fill as is.

“I cannot have a bus route and say, ‘oh well, I’m not going to fill it today,” said Jon Goetz, a location manager with First Student. “We have to get these kids to and from school — so guess where I am every afternoon. We’re doing a lot better than most districts in Minnesota, but it’s a challenge.”

Discussion to continue

Seelinger said any increase in transportation costs related to start time changes would most likely trigger a round of budget cuts.

School Board Member Jean Marvin said she did not believe a quick start time change that resulted in budget cuts would be worth it.

“The numbers that have been batted around are okay, but I’m not willing to go up much beyond what’s already been suggested,” said Marvin. “There’s sort of a Sophie's choice here: if we do what’s right for teenagers, at minimum, we’re making it tougher on the parents of little kids for daycare; and at worst, we may be putting them in some jeopardy by putting them on the streets when it’s dark without a backup plan. That may be something, but I’m not willing to jeopardize the budget long-term for the ideal solution.”

The topic will appear before the school board next Tuesday at their monthly meeting. If changes are to take effect for the 2020-21 school year, the board says they would have to make a decision within roughly a month.

Isaac Jahns is a Rochester native and a 2019 graduate of the Missouri School of Journalism. He reports on politics, business and music for Med City Beat.

Cover photo licensed via Canva