LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — The Clark County School District is discussing options to push back start times at schools across the valley, due to new regulations from the Nevada State Board of Education.
On Thursday night, school board trustees heard a presentation from Chief Operating Officer Mike Casey. He said the call to set guidelines around start times "seems to originate from a 2014 American Academy of Pediatrics study that examined insufficient sleep in adolescents and young adults."
According to that study, 28% of students reported falling asleep in school at least once a week and researchers found that decreased sleep leads to lower academic achievement at the middle school, high school, and college levels as well as higher rates of absenteeism and tardiness.
The Nevada State Board of Education is requiring all schools within the state that currently start before 8 a.m. to provide alternative options to families and students due to negative impacts on student health and well-being.
Trustees were presented with three options during Thursday night's meeting:
- Shifting the current three tier bell schedule and starting all schools an hour later. High schools would be at 8 a.m., middle schools and certain elementary schools would be at 9 a.m., while the rest of the elementary schools would be at 10 a.m. The district said elementary schools would be distributed over two bell periods "due to the number of buses needed to service special education students."
- Swapping the start and end times for the first bell for high schools and the third bell for elementary schools. For example, elementary schools would be at 8 a.m., a different set of elementary schools and middle schools would be at 9 a.m., and high schools would be at 10 a.m. However, the district said this options would mean they need to add 52 routes and drivers. According to CCSD estimates, 52 additional buses would cost $11.6 million in initial costs and would cost $700,000 to operate every year. They would also have to hire 52 additional bus drivers, which is estimated to cost $2.2 million every year.
- Converting the current three tier bell schedule to a two tier bell schedule. With this option, high schools and some middle schools would start at 8 a.m. while a different set of middle schools and elementary schools would start at 9:30 a.m. CCSD officials state this option would lead to a substantial impact due to buying 450 additional buses, adding another bus facility, hiring 450 bus drivers, a coordinator, and improving bus technology. According to the presentation, this would cost more than $150 million.
If district officials decided to go with the third option, Casey said it would cause disruptions since the lead time for a typical purchase of 100 buses is nine to 12 months and hiring and training 450 additional staff members would take HR resources away from other staffing needs, among other considerations.
The presentation did pitch some options to offset some of those costs. That includes increasing how far students have to walk to reach the bus and eliminating school transportation options for magnet and career and technical academy schools.
You can see the full presentation here.
Superintendent Dr. Jesus Jara made it clear that CCSD is against moving school start times for several reasons.
"This is not a recommendation of the Clark County School District. I know my colleagues across the entire state, all 17, are opposing this," Jara said. "We are not opposing this because of the research. The research is clear on sleep patterns of teenagers and students. What we're concerned with is the operational impact this will have on our families, our children, our staff, and our entire community."
Trustee Katie Williams said if the regulations do pass, the money needed for the changes would take away already limited resources.
"This could cost over $100 million for schools to adjust. That could have gone to special programs or new schools or new playgrounds or new curriculum that would actually help students," Williams said. "And walking five miles? That's crazy to me. I can't imagine, as a parent, doing that to my child."
Trustee Linda Cavazos added the community and district are "perturbed" about how this will affect the district.
"These are not options we had any consultation with. This is just us trying to look at what this would look like if that does get approved and goes through," Cavazos said.
According to the draft regulation, new start times are set to be implemented gradually during the 2024-2025 school year. That regulation adds that the Board of Education could issue waivers to schools that face "unique" challenges in modifying their start times. However, that would be on a case-by-case basis.
