March 6, 2018 — Work Session
Student Opinions on Late Start Times
Katie Miller, the student representatives on the Board of Education, reported some high school students oppose the later start times because of the impact to academics and athletics. She encouraged the board to hold a meeting with high school students so they can offer their input before the final decision.
Budget Discussions
–Fees: The board reviewed fee increases recommended for the next school year. Business Administrator Todd Hauber reminded the board that all fees are subject to waiver. Hauber said the Legislative Auditor and the Utah State Board of Education are both doing audits of students’ fees and it will be interesting to see their conclusions.
–Capital Budget: Hauber recommended $3.5 million for capital programs for FY19.
–School Start Times: The board will make a decision on school start times at its March 20 regular board meeting. The board will decide whether to adopt new school start times this fall, pilot the early start times at one school, or wait until master planning is complete.
UHSAA Sanctions Lacrosse
Park City High School Athletic Director Jamie Sheetz provided the board with information about the Utah High School Activities Association adding lacrosse as a sport during the 2019-20 school year. He anticipates lacrosse being a Spring sport with a game and practice schedule similar to baseball. Later this spring Sheetz will provide the board with more details about the possibility of implementing lacrosse at PCHS (costs, how much school time would be missed, etc.).
Communities That Care
Mary Christa Smith, Communities That Care Coordinator, provided the board with an overview of CTC. It is working to improve awareness of mental health and substance abuse issues and increasing access to effective treatment and prevention services within the county. It works in cooperation with the Summit County Mental Wellness Alliance stakeholders: Summit County, Park City, Park City Community Foundation, and Park City, South Summit, and North Summit School Districts.
A recent survey of students through the county indicated the following:
–Nearly 50% of students surveyed do not perceive using drugs or alcohol as risky
–40% of students report using alcohol
–30% of students report trying marijuana
–15% of students considered suicide last year
–70% of students who have tried alcohol, report drinking at home with their parents permission
The priority risk factors were unanimously selected by the CTC committee based upon the work of the data assessment workgroup:
–Mental Health (targeting depressive symptoms)
–Perceived risk of substance abuse (low perceived risk)
–Parental attitudes (favorable to substance use and antisocial behavior)
CTC is conducting a resource analysis of what youth services are available and what programs need to be added to address the three risk factors. She thanked PCSD for helping move the process forward and being committed to these county-wide issues. She noted a Youth Advisory Council comprised of students from all three school districts has been formed. When the students reviewed the risk factors they said that parental attitudes are the biggest area of concern. Smith said there needs to be more resources available to parents, more engagement with parents, and a change in community culture.
Board Training
Joan Andrews, legal counsel for the district from the firm of Fabian VanCott, provided training for the board on open/closed meetings, and the Government Records Access and Management Act and the public’s right to access records from a government entity.
Later high school start times will just make students miss more school hours for games and competitions, and have later practices and later homework so later too bed. It will not accomplish the boards goal or more sleep. Later HS & JhS start times will also exasperate the traffic issues on Hwy 248, as there are more cars for those schools than the one elementary school. If you want to improve school times consider moving TMJH/ PCHS early release day to Fridays as most competitions are on that day of the week and students would miss less classes then.
Katie is the Student on the Board and discussed this issue in our class today. Students are not opposed to an “earlier” start. They oppose the “later” start time because of the impact to academics and athletics.
Thank you Julie for that clarification.
I took a poll in all of my 9th grade Foods 1 classes. Not one student agreed with the later start times.
As a parent of 2 kids who have gone through the HS successfully, another currently in HS, and an elementary school child, I do not support adjusting or changing the schedule due to many of the reasons above and more. I’ve clearly communicated those objections from the start but was not welcomed to participate in the Start Times Committee, due to my concerns about the changes. At a very base level, the town is not ready to handle the traffic implications of a later start time.
The only reason that later start times even came up as an issue in the PCSD is because sleep deprivation in teens negatively impacts: academics, physical health, mental health, safety (with respect to teen drivers and car crashes), risky behaviors, as well as athletic performance and injury prevention. Early start times are a major contributor to teen sleep deprivation, and because of this, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Medical Association, the Center for Disease Control, the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychology, the American Psychiatric Association, the
Education Commission of the States, The National Association of School Nurses/Society of Pediatric Nurses, the National Education Association and others have recommended a school start time of no earlier than 8:30 AM for adolescents. I encourage all who are speaking up on this issue to look at the research. Concerns that teens would just “stay up later” and not reap the benefits of later start times have been disproven. Challenges with traffic, transportation, athletics etc have been encountered and mitigated in many other school districts across the country who have made a change, and I trust with proper planning, that we can overcome these challenges as well.
Maura Hanrahan MD
Co-chair of the past PCSD Start Times Committee