CJUSD School Board presented options for later start schedules for the 2022-23 school year
The pros and cons of three options are presented to put the district in compliance with Senate Bill 328
Next year, students at Colton High will start school after 8:30 a.m.
Colton, CA—Last night, the CJUSD School Board was presented options for the upcoming changes to school start times across the district as a result of Senate Bill 328, which prohibits middle schools from starting before 8 a.m. and high schools from starting before 8:30 a.m.
The new school day schedules will go into effect on July 1, 2022, per SB 328, which was signed into law in October 2019 by Governor Newsom.
These changes have had CJUSD administration working to determine the best way to handle the logistical challenges, which does not provide funding to support the expensive transition.
Challenges facing the district include student transportation, coordination of elementary and secondary schedules, sports team practices and game schedules, student travel from school after dark, need for before and after school services, concerns with nutrition services, and communication with families, whose daily schedules will be impacted.
Three options were presented to the school board by Student Services. The first option would have elementary schools start at 7:40 a.m., with middle schools at 8:00 a.m. and high schools at 8:45 a.m.
In the second option, elementary schools would start 10-minutes earlier, at 7:30 a.m., middle schools still at 8:00 a.m., and high schools would start five minutes earlier, at 8:40 a.m.
The final option, which was viewed by many as the most radical, kept elementary schools at 7:40, then bumped high schools to 8:30 a.m., and middle schools to 9:12 a.m.
The school board discussed the merits of each option, coming to consensus that option A was most likely the best for our district, and advising Student Services to pursue this choice. However, no vote was taken to approve any of the options.
Board Member Patt Haro, during the question-and-answer portion of the presentation, was clear about her disdain for the change, which has been foisted upon districts across the state without regard of local considerations. “I hate this,” she said. “It just angers me that assembly members who have no idea what they’re doing to students pass something without any input from schools.”
Other board members felt similarly. “My biggest concern is how the late start time will impact our high school students,” Board Member Dan Flores said. “Many of our high school students participate in athletics and other after school activities. With school getting out later, it pushes the activities even later into the evening. It cuts into family time, dinner, and makes it tougher for our kids to have enough time to study and do their homework.”
“I wish the state would allow each school district to decide what’s best for its own community,” he added.
Senate Bill 328 was written by California state Senator Anthony Portantino (D-San Fernando) “based on the recommendations of the American Academy of Pediatricians and the Centers for Disease Control.”
The CDC and AAP cite research by the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine from 2016 suggesting “Teenagers 13 to 18 years of age should sleep 8 to 10 hours per 24 hours on a regular basis to promote optimal health.” The CDC goes on to claim that students who do not get enough sleep have a higher incidence of being overweight, engaging in substance abuse, and experiencing poor academic performance.
Teachers and families across the Colton Joint Unified School District have a wide range of responses, many involving the logistics of the changes. Travel time and traffic considerations are cause for concern for some staff members, as well as how time will be built into the schedule for collaboration with colleagues.
For families, the biggest challenges seem to be coordinating drop offs and pick ups of students when they have children who are attending multiple schools.
Since starting later will be a reality at the beginning of the 2022-23 school year, individuals struggling with the decision are advised to reach out to their local state Assembly Member and Senator. For Colton, the Assembly Member is Eloise Gómez Reyes (D) and the State Senator is Connie M. Leyva (D).
Update: Student Services confirmed Option C is not a typographical error. Middle schools, under this option, would start at 9:12 a.m. The article has been corrected.
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