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Superintendent recommends no change to school start times

April 11, 2002

Contact: Carol Comeau
Superintendent
phone: 742-4312
fax: 742-4318
comeau_carol@asdk12.org

After months of research by a task force and an extensive review of public opinion through community forums, postcard surveys, e-mails and a telephone poll, Anchorage School District Superintendent Carol Comeau is recommending to the School Board that no changes be made to the current school start times. However, Comeau and district administrators will continue to look at the issue over the coming year.

“This is a very complicated issue, much more so than it appears on the surface,” said Comeau. “Changing our starting times would impact everyone in the city, not just our students and staff. None of the options that we’ve seen so far benefit a large enough segment of the community to justify changing the current schedule for the next school year.”

The board will take public testimony and vote on the recommendation at its meeting on Monday, April 15, beginning at 6:30 p.m.

Last spring, some parents and a physician asked the School Board to consider moving the high school start time to later in the morning. The group cited research that shows most teens’ biological sleep patterns do not align with the current 7:30 a.m. start, and argued that moving the start time back would academically benefit high schoolers.

In the fall, a task force of parents, community members and district staff began researching the issue, and eventually developed a series of options for the public to consider.

No single option drew overwhelming public support. Although most respondents overall favored some kind of change, there was little agreement on what that change should be, which left the “no change” option with the most individual support.

Comeau acknowledges that the research on teenagers’ circadian rhythms and sleep patterns is compelling and has merit. She believes that over the next year the district might be able to find more appealing and less costly ways to address the issue.

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