The Boulder Valley School District is moving forward with standardizing the elementary school day to seven hours with the same start and end times.
The change will mean most elementary students will start their school day earlier, at 7:45 a.m., and end it later, at 2:45 p.m. The change is expected to go into effect in August. Under the new schedule, some middle schools and K-8 schools also may see small changes to start and end times. High school schedules will stay the same.
Along with moving to a standardized elementary school day, the district is adding a one-hour late start for all schools — including preschool — on Wednesdays to give teachers a common professional development time. The time will be used to support teachers in implementing the district’s strategic plan, according to the district.
The Boulder Valley school board is scheduled to hear a report on the changes at Tuesday’s meeting, but a board vote isn’t required. The meeting starts at 6 p.m. and will be streamed live at bvsd.org/bv22 or on Comcast channel 22.
The elementary changes, district officials said, will give all students equal learning time.
Now, elementary school days range from six-and-a-half-hours long to seven-hours-and-20-minutes long, or 1,032 hours to 1,175 hours a year, according to the district. The difference between a seven-hour day and a six-hour day equals about 13 more days of instruction each school year.
“We know how incredibly important it is for students and their families to know that they will receive a similar high-quality experience with the same instructional infrastructure in any school,” Area Superintendent Robbyn Fernandez said at a May school board work session on the proposal.
How the extra time will be used will be a school-based decision.
A standardized elementary school day was one of the main recommendations from a task force that worked on creating an ideal school day in 2016. The task force urged the district to standardize the length of the school day at each level and align start times based on adolescent sleep research.
Other recommendations from the ideal school day task force included a later start for high schools, which went into effect in fall 2019. The recommendation to equalize elementary art, music and physical education time went into effect in fall 2017.
More recently, a committee comprised of 22 district staff members — including school principals and a representative from the Boulder Valley Education Association — developed the standardized seven-hour day for elementary schools.
Middle schools, K-8 schools and high schools already have the same length school days.
There are some exceptions to the new schedule.
Monarch K-8, Southern Hills Middle and Nederland Elementary will keep their current schedules. Jamestown Elementary and Gold Hill Elementary will keep their same start time, but end later. Flatirons and Foothill elementary schools will go from 8:15 a.m. to 3:15 p.m. to allow for travel from mountain communities.
Boulder Community School of Integrated Studies (BCSIS) and High Peaks Elementary, which share a building and are “choice” schools with most students arriving by car, will have separate bell times. BCSIS will go from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., while High Peaks will go from 7:45 a.m. to 2:45 p.m. District officials noted earlier start times still are needed for the two schools to keep a bus for students in special education on schedule.
The Boulder Technical Education Center’s schedule will be from 8:55 a.m. to 3:20 p.m.
By staggering elementary and secondary school start times, the changes won’t require additional bus routes, keeping them cost neutral, according to the district. The district over the next few months also plans to look at replacing school buses with RTD passes for some high schools, consolidating bus stops in neighborhoods and re-evaluating walk distances to schools and bus stops to reduce transportation costs.
To get feedback from families on impacts of the new schedule, the district is planning to post a survey and solicit feedback in February through its online Let’s Talk engagement forum. In May, the district plans to work with schools on adding family supports before finalizing the schedule.
Several parents said they were caught off guard by the changes. Concerns include child care for working parents on Wednesday mornings, coordinating schedules for families with children in both elementary and secondary schools, and getting young children to school earlier.
Alexandria Ware, who will have a third grader at Eisenhower Elementary and a freshman at Fairview High in the fall, said her main concern is the late start on Wednesdays. She said changing start times also will be a “big logistical headache for parents.”
“I would hope that the school would provide some kind of childcare option for Wednesday mornings,” she said, adding she’s not a fan of changing up the school routine in the middle of the week for her youngest.
Natalie Orphan, a High Peaks Elementary parent, said she’s concerned fewer families will decide to walk or bike to school with earlier start times. Her school’s 8 a.m. start time is already too early, she said, adding young children need more sleep than adolescents.
“We are already often late, and I imagine it will only be worse if the changes take effect,” she wrote in a letter to the school district. “Many children will not see the benefit of the new ‘seven hour day’ because they will be perpetually late and/or over tired.”
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January 26, 2021 at 08:47AM
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BVSD moves forward with standardized, 7-hour elementary day - Boulder Daily Camera
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