Muscogee County School District board delays vote on changing starting, ending times
The Muscogee County School District Board decided Monday to delay a decision on changing the start and end times at every Columbus public school after hearing feedback from the community.
During the MCSD’s monthly meeting, the board tabled voting on the administration’s proposal until May 15. They are considering the following recommendation from superintendent David Lewis to adjust MCSD’s time schedule, effective next school year:
Elementary schools
Doors open: current 7:15 a.m., change to 7 a.m.
Starting time: current 8 a.m., change to 7:45 a.m.
Ending time: current 2:30 p.m., change to 2:15 p.m.
Middle schools
Doors open: current 8:20 a.m., change to 7:40 a.m,
Starting time: current 8:50 a.m., change to 8:10 a.m.
Ending time: current 3:50 p.m., change to 3:10 p.m.
High schools
Doors open: current 7:40 a.m., change to 8:15 a.m.
Starting time: current 8:10 a.m., change to 8:45 a.m.
Ending time: current 3:25 p.m., change to 4 p.m.
Why are new times proposed?
According to the administration’s presentation to the board last month, the changes are based on research that shows revised starting and ending times will better support academic performance and align with guidelines from the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The school day’s starting and ending times could affect students in their academic and athletic performance, their behavior and their transportation.
Circadian rhythms are part of the brain’s internal clock regulating bodily functions on an approximately 24-hour cycle. An average teenager’s circadian sleep-wake cycle provides the highest energy level from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and the lowest energy levels from 3 to 7 a.m., according to the National Institute of General Medical Sciences. That’s why the American Academy of Pediatrics says high school days should start after 8:30 a.m.
Teenagers need 8 to 10 hours of sleep per night, and their hormonal shifts cause them to stay awake late and want to sleep late, according to the CDC. If they don’t get the proper amount of sleep, the CDC says, they increase their chances of obesity, depression and risky behavior.
Case study
The administration also presented results from a case study on an unnamed high school with similar demographics to MCSD: 32,000 students, 5,100 employees, in a Southern urban community with Title I status.
Four years after that district changed its high school day’s starting time from 7:45 a.m. to 9:15 a.m. and its ending time from 2:45 p.m. to 4:15 p.m., the number of D’s and F’s in the first-period algebra class decreased by 11%. The study showed the passing rate on the state’s standardized test increased by 13%, and the passing rate on Advanced Placement exams increased by 2%.
Meanwhile, the number of tardies decreased by 19%, the number of absences decreased by 8%, and the number of discipline referrals decreased by 12%.
The later starting and ending times for high schools mean practices and games for sports teams will be later, and student athletes (35% of all MCSD high school students) will miss additional class time for away games.
But student athletes in middle school will have earlier starting and ending times for their practices and games, and high school student athletes will have more time in the morning for team practices or individual conditioning sessions.
The administration says a new schedule would benefit MCSD’s transportation system by:
Reducing the number of students with a morning pickup time at the school bus stop before 6 a.m. from 630 to zero.
Reducing the number of students arriving at school at least 15 minutes after the first bell rings from 1,890 to zero.
Reducing the number of students picked up from school at least 15 minutes after the dismissal bell rings from 1,750 to zero.
Reducing the number of students with an afternoon drop-off time at the school bus stop after 5:30 p.m. from 770 to zero.
Reducing the number of bus routes lasting longer than 75 minutes from 29 in the morning and 21 in the afternoon to zero.
Not everyone in agreement
After last month’s presentation to the board, MCSD conducted four public forums around the city to gather public opinion about the proposal.
“Thus far, feedback collected from parents, school leaders, teachers, and community members has been overwhelmingly positive and in support of the adjusted schedule,” the administration wrote on the agenda for Monday night’s meeting.
According to the summary of stakeholder feedback posted on MCSD’s website, 93% of the district’s principals support the proposal.
But there is organized opposition. An online petition endorsed by 118 signers as of Tuesday afternoon urged board members to vote against the proposal “and continue to discuss the matter at hand with hopes of MCSD and its stakeholders finding common ground in regards to a solution to address the things data shows us are our major areas of needed improvement, which the current presentation does not fully convey,” the petition says.
Robynn Purnell, who was president of the Muscogee County Council of PTAs in 2018-19, posted the petition, which mentions several reasons to oppose the changes. They include:
“Not all stakeholders were made aware of the proposal in a timely manner with an adequate amount of time for discussions and feedback prior to the date of the voting.”
“The explanations and research backing the proposed changes, point way more to POTENTIAL positive changes only to the transportation issues within the school district and not so much the ‘The Whole Child.’”
“Why weren’t any parents or high school seniors invited to be a part of the subcommittee advisors?”
“The research shared with parents was from 2014 case studies and it only focused on high school students. Are we making decisions for all students based on outdated research for just one group?”
Subcommittee
Members of the administration’s subcommittee that researched the issue are:
Jeff Battles, athletics director
Christine Hull, curriculum executive director
Godfrey Jackson, transportation director.
Subcommittee advisers are:
Tonya Douglass, Waddell Elementary School principal
Terri Myers, Rothschild Leadership Academy (a middle school) principal
Sureya Hendrick, Shaw High School principal
Trikella Nelson, guidance programs director
Jeannie Polhamus, lead nurse.
Parents speak to board members
Three mothers of MCSD students spoke during the public agenda portion of Monday night’s meeting and urged the board to postpone the vote to give parents more time to provide feedback about the proposal.
Denise Cambridge, the mother of two sons who are student athletes in MCSD, asked the board for a survey to be sent to parents.
MCSD communications director Kimberly Wright told the Ledger-Enquirer in an email Tuesday, “At this time, it hasn’t been determined how we will continue to gather feedback. In the meantime, I will continue to update the community by ensuring we have the most updated information regarding the proposed bell times via mass communication such as email notifications, robo calls, our website and social media platforms.
“I encourage parents to update their information in Infinite Campus or inform their principal or administrators of any updates to their contact information to ensure they are receiving communication from the District.”
Jennifer Le Denney, who has a son in an MCSD behavioral support program, told the board the proposal doesn’t take into consideration special-needs students.
GaQuilla Hunter-Mathews, president of the Muscogee County Special Education PTA, told the board a 15-minute change to the school start time for special-needs children has ripple effects that make if feel “more like an hour” for them to adjust and can result in meltdowns.
The proposed schedule would mean some students would need to be dropped off by their working parents before school starts, Hunter-Mathews said, “and you can’t just put a special-needs child in the gym with other children.”
Board members respond
The board discussed the proposal for approximately one hour Monday night.
District 2 representative Nickie Tillery said the outpouring of feedback she has received about the proposal has been all negative. She asked to delay the vote.
“I don’t’ feel like I have enough information,” Tillery said.
Kia Chambers, the nine-member board’s lone countywide representative, said she has enough information to vote, but she wondered aloud whether parents have had enough time to ask questions.
“I don’t think it would hurt us to wait and bring it up next month,” she said. “… There is no perfect plan, but I do believe it will help.”
Chambers suggested posting on the MCSD website the video recording of the online forum and to post an FAQ about the proposal.
District 5 representative Laurie McRae, the board’s vice chair, said her initial opinion about the proposal was that it makes sense. But comments she has received from parents and students pointing out detrimental effects of the proposal have given her pause.
“They’d like more time,” she said. “They’d like to be surveyed. … We want their feedback. This is not a done deal.”
McRae noted, if the proposal is approved, more high school students might ride a bus next school year because their working parents wouldn’t be able to drive them to school at the later time. She also noted changing the time schedule a year ahead of the district’s expected rezoning is a concern.
District 4 representative Naomi Buckner said she also has heard criticism of the proposal from high school students. She favors high school starting earlier, Buckner said, but she likes the benefit the plan would have on transportation. So she wants to support a “decision for the greater good.”
District 3 representative Vanessa Jackson said, “I am prepared to vote, but I’m not opposed to waiting a couple of weeks so we can hear from our constituents.”
District 6 representative Mark Cantrell said the feedback board members are receiving is based mostly on how the proposal affects that individual.
“If it’s good for you, that’s good,” Cantrell said. “If it’s not good for you, you probably ain’t going to like it. That’s just human nature right there. … We’re going to do what’s best for our children. That is what we’re looking for right there: what is the best for the children in the school district.”
Lewis said the proposal would improve the district academically and logistically.
“This recommendation accomplishes both of those,” he said. “That’s what you tasked me to do as superintendent. … You always hear the loud people who are against something. And I understand that. I appreciate that. But by the same token, we’re trying to improve the system, and that’s why we’re bringing this.
“No superintendent or staff wants to bring something that you know is going to be controversial, but you do what you’re supposed to do if you’re doing the right thing. And that’s the intent by which this is being done and being recommended. No other reason.”
District 1 representative Pat Hugley Green, the board’s chair, said although the proposal would negatively impact her family, “it’s not about me. There are a lot of students here who are getting home late and getting on the bus way too early (in the morning) and riding way too long. … That’s a hard stop for me, with this amount of students who are impacted.”
Green added that the comments about the proposal she has received from residents are a mix of positive and negative reactions.
“That is always going to be the case whenever there is change,” she said. “… I don’t like it, but when I look at the families and the students who are impacted, I have to remain focused on the greater, the greater number, the greater impact.”
