By Ashley M. Casey
Staff Writer
The discussion of starting classes later for middle- and high schoolers in the Liverpool Central School District continues to drag on. The Board of Education voted Nov. 6 to approve a proposal of “Step 1 Pre-RFP Work,” as described by the district’s consultant on modified school start times (MSST).
Superintendent Dr. Mark Potter said the consultant, Dr. Lewin, is looking to create an “assessment package” to determine the Liverpool community’s concerns, lifestyle and sleep habits before forming a plan to change school start times.
“It would be a pilot, if you will, in Liverpool that would turn into an opportunity for other school districts that are looking into this MSST idea,” Potter said. “How do you evaluate your local community and not just take general research and try to apply it? He’d like to personalize it.”
The previous iteration of the consulting RFP, which the BOE accepted in May 2017, was listed as $72,000. Potter said Lewin was “elusive” about the cost of the new RFP and what would be cut from that proposal to lower the cost. The pre-RFP work, Potter said, costs $23,503.
“This step is putting the cart and the horse in the correct order,” BOE President Craig Dailey said.
Board member Stacey Balduf said at the Oct. 23 BOE meeting that this proposal is “stage zero” before implementation of MSST can be considered.
“We have not decided to move forward and this ‘stage zero’ is so we can talk about whether we want to even do MSST,” Balduf is quoted as saying in the Oct. 23 minutes.
School board members remain skeptical of the research on adolescents and sleep presented to the district by the Modified School Start Time Committee, which recommended in January 2016 that the district shift to later start times for middle- and high-schoolers.
“I’m not convinced that there’s a problem,” board member Dr. Chris Hockey said at the Nov. 6 meeting. “I don’t think lack of sleep is the problem; I think lack of sleep is a symptom of a larger problem. … I usually am missing sleep because I’m over-committed.”
Hockey said he was in favor of Lewin’s “assessment package” in order to find out the community’s specific needs.
“If there is a true lack of sleep occurring in the district, my hope is that would identify what is the root cause of that,” he said. “You snore, or you need a CPAP machine — there’s usually some other cause as to why you’re not sleeping.”
Balduf concurred with Hockey’s idea that too many activities or underlying health problems could contribute to an adolescent’s lack of sleep, not having to get up early.
“We don’t know that there’s a direct data line between not enough sleep and starting school time,” Balduf said. “Even if we could hypothetically change that school start time, would that result in more sleep?”
Balduf said even if Liverpool students are sleep-deprived, they need to learn to wake up early for their future paths: college classes, jobs or the military.
Board member Pat DeBona-Rosier said the district may consider alternatives to starting school later. She suggested moving the high school’s academic support period to the beginning of the day and making it optional. That way, students who don’t require that support could come in a bit later.
As the board’s discussion pivots toward the causes of sleep deprivation in middle- and high-schoolers, Dailey suggested dropping the “MSST” moniker altogether.
“Our intent with this revision or upgrade to our proposal is to see what are our problems?” Dailey said. “One of the things that I’ve been batting around in my mind is do we even want to have this be called ‘modified school start time’?”
Dailey said the issue not only encompasses sleep health, education and awareness, but it affects students, staff and community members.
“I’m very excited about the possibility of calling this something different because I think it would be better received by the public,” Balduf said. “This title doesn’t really sell it that way.”
