It may seem as though the budget vote was only a short while ago, but the Guilford Board of Education (BOE) is already starting work on the next fiscal year’s budget. At a BOE Operations Committee meeting on Oct. 25, board members listened to the public share what they want to see included in the coming budget.

Parents and community members covered a wide range of topics including wanting to see more support for para-professionals, maintaining class size , and thanking the board for supporting the new swim team at Guilford High School (GHS), but the two biggest concerns brought up were the need for more art time in the schools and the continuing desire to have a later school start time at the high school.

‘The 6 a.m. Zombie Apocalypse’

A later start to the school day is not a new discussion in town. Back in January 2016, as a result of numerous studies indicating high school students are in need of more sleep, the BOE was already investigating the possibility of a delayed high school start time.

The primary problem at the time was the bus schedule; the board invited a representative from the District Management Council, a Boston-based firm, to present two possible scenarios for busing students to school under a new schedule.

At the time, the board was working to gather more information and analyze the pros and cons of moving the schedule. At the meeting on Oct. 26, it was clear numerous parents in the audience still want to see a later start time for GHS. Resident Irina Cottrill said that other school districts in the state have successfully changed start times at little to no cost and asked the BOE to prioritize this issue.

“We would like to explore the 8 a.m. start and the 2:30 p.m. stop,” she said. “We believe this might be close to a budget-neutral issue with the reorganization of the buses. Speaking with some high school students and parents, it became evident that this start-stop would not interfere with daily practice for sports or with a majority of away games.”

Resident Lorna Steele, who has spoken often about the medical benefits of letting students sleep later, said now is the time to really consider this change.

“Later high school start times have actually been shown to improve performance in some districts…Thank you [the BOE] for listening to us today, yesterday, and many previous times before,” she said. “I appreciate your openness to hearing us out and I urge you strongly please don’t push this off for another year.”

Resident Mike Rogers said delaying the high school start time even a little bit could make a big difference.

“I think the research and the science is clear, but one thing that no one has really talked about here tonight is the 6 a.m. zombie apocalypse that happens with a freshman in high school…Even 35 extra minutes I think could make a significant difference,” he said.

Superintendent of Schools Dr. Paul Freeman said the district is still focused on this issue and a task force made up of staff, students, and community members has been formed to investigate this issue in greater depth.

“I am interested to hear people tonight talk about new ideas that are possibly budget neutral or at least ideas with small budgetary impact but secondly to think about helping us to have this conversation on a broader scale,” he said.

Freeman said the task force will meet regularly and the public will be updated via BOE meetings, messages sent by him, and hopefully through a series of community meetings as the discussion continues. Freeman said he is also in communication with superintendents of other districts that have successfully changed school start times.

One member of the public questioned if the BOE was neutral on this issue. BOE member Dr. Kathleen Balestracci assured the public that the BOE is an elected board with representatives who serve the people and try to ensure their desires for the district are met. However, Balestracci said while everyone in the audience that evening was in support of changing start times, that has not historically been the case.

“One of the things for me, who is an extremely strong advocate of changing start times, is to hear from all of you have spoken up in support of this because two years ago we sat in this very room with 100-plus parents and heard such a variety of viewpoints on this,” she said. “We heard from elementary school parents who begged us not to change school start times…We heard high school parents and students ask us not to change it for reasons of sports, we heard parents who were concerned that they have older students and when they get home they do take care of younger students because the parents’ work, as well as hearing from parents—elementary through high school—who were in support of changing school start times.”

Balestracci said she didn’t think any member of the board needed to be convinced about the science behind more sleep for high school students, but said the board needs to listen to all opinions on this issue.

“We were very excited about this, but we were not hearing from the people that we represent in any kind of consensus way that led us to a particular direction,” she said. “If in fact what we hear as we go through this year, as the task force meets, as some of you are meeting in groups elsewhere and gathering energy from the community, it may be a different outcome this year.”

A Need for Full-time Art

In addition to later school start times; many parents asked the board to consider an expansion of the art program at the elementary school level. Freeman said the district currently has one part-time art and music teacher at each elementary school, meaning students receive about 30 to 40 minutes of art or music instruction per week.

Resident Christy Stoddard said there is a need for full-time art because students benefit from art in ways that they might not benefit or excel in other subject matters.

“I am in full support of full-time art in the Guilford public schools,” she said. “In my opinion we have a wonderful school district, but I am fearful because I see less and less chances for our students to be creative…We have students who find their strength in writing reading and math; what happens to students like myself and my son who need art to build their confidence and strengthen their academics?”

Freeman said elementary school principles have been open to the idea of two sections of art per week, but Freeman said it is something that would have to be carefully considered.

“In a limited school day, we would need to work carefully...so if we increase art, we would need to look at all of the other offerings that happen during the week and make changes to afford that time,” he said.