Post by gatordog on Mar 30, 2009 11:44:08 GMT -5
Staggered school schedules: Crowding forces high schools to adopt early—very early—starting times
In many districts, staggered schedules create bleary-eyed students loading up on caffeine before calculus
By Joel Hood | Tribune reporter
March 25, 2009
Whatever Ben Johnson may have thought his senior year of high school would be like, it probably didn't include waking up every weekday at 5:30 a.m.
Little did he know he would need coffee or a liter of Mountain Dew to stay awake in first-period calculus or that he would have to retreat home after school to nap for several hours.
Such is life, though, for nearly 800 juniors and seniors at Lockport Township High School, where crowding has forced school officials to offer classes beginning at 6:50 a.m. for those students brave—and caffeinated enough—to take the challenge. Next year, all juniors and seniors will start school at 6:44 a.m., a fate sealed when Lockport voters rejected a fifth proposal last month to build a new high school.
Already, the change is creating logistical nightmares for officials, teachers, coaches and parent volunteers, who must juggle classes and times for the school's 4,000 students spread over two campuses. Under the current plan, seniors can complete their school days by 11:45 a.m., juniors by 1:44 p.m., while freshmen and sophomores won't be out of class until 3:44 p.m. Assemblies have been abandoned, and after-school activities limited.
Across Chicago and the collar counties, some of the largest school districts manipulate student schedules to ease the pressure of crowding in classrooms, gymnasiums and cafeterias.
The Chicago Public Schools have been tinkering with school lunchtimes at 17 area schools for years, shuffling children in and out of the lunch line as early as 9 a.m. A school district in Evanston is studying a proposal to make elementary school students start their days at 8 a.m. instead of 9.
But none has gone to such extremes as Lockport Township, whose severely staggered start times are creating hardship and headaches for everyone. "It doesn't matter how long you've been doing it, it's still a challenge to get up that early in the morning," said Johnson, who has chosen the early start time for two years. "This isn't that much fun."
Johnson liked the idea of getting out of school at 12:45 p.m., which allowed him to take a job with the forest preserves in the late afternoon and be more active in student government. Co-president of the student council, Johnson squeezes homework around his work schedule and evening meetings.
Johnson, who plans to study business at the University of Illinois next year, said the strain of so many early mornings takes a physical and mental toll. Students walk bleary-eyed through the halls, chugging coffee and energy drinks. School buses don't run that early, which means students have to drive, catch rides with friends or rely on their parents.
Even more significant, Johnson said, is that school takes up such a small part of your day that it seemingly becomes less important.
"It just kind of takes away from the whole school experience," he said.
There's also mounting research that high school students are more susceptible to sleepiness than younger students and that they have more trouble learning early in the morning. In study after study, including one published in the Wisconsin Journal of Medicine in 2003, high school students are shown to perform worse in school and develop social issues when plagued by a lack of sleep. Interestingly, students in elementary and middle schools were not shown to suffer such severe effects.
Lockport Township Principal Brett Gould said officials considered research like this before approving the "early bird" program. But he said the results seemed inconclusive and that students seemed to perform better in some subjects than others.
"We know some students like it and are having great success with it, but we know some kids will have some difficulty," he said.
Despite these concerns, more high schools in fast-growing Will County have embraced these early start times as a way to ease student crowding.
Lincoln-Way East High School in Frankfort, home to 4,100 students last year, experimented with 7 a.m. start times for juniors and seniors before the school district expanded to add a third high school this year.
Upperclassmen at Plainfield Central High School started at 7:20 a.m. for three years before the district opened a fourth high school this year. Life on campus became so structured that certain hallways were designated for one-way travel, said Plainfield Central Principal Bob Smith.
"It's very stressful, not only on students but on staff," he said. "We probably had more fights in the hallways because everyone was so worn out."
Jamie Collins, a senior at Lockport Township, said she opted to start at 6:50 a.m. because the school parking lot was typically full later in the morning. It's a decision she often second-guesses, now that water polo practice and other school activities keep her on campus most days until after 6 p.m.
"I regret my choice in the morning when I have to get up so early," said Collins, who often "sleeps in" until 5:45 a.m. Now she wonders how students forced to comply with the rigid scheduling next year will cope.
"If someone had made me do this my junior year, I couldn't have," Collins said. "You have to want to do this. You have to be motivated."
Lockport Township junior Kimmy Krzyszkowski said she won over her skeptical parents when she told them how much studying she could get done after school if her classes ended at 12:45 p.m. In reality, she said, she now needs that time after school to recharge her batteries for her other interests, which include drama, choir and student government. Krzyszkowski, the student government co-president with Johnson, said she doesn't really catch up on sleep until the week- end.
"You do what you have to, to get by," she said.
In many districts, staggered schedules create bleary-eyed students loading up on caffeine before calculus
By Joel Hood | Tribune reporter
March 25, 2009
Whatever Ben Johnson may have thought his senior year of high school would be like, it probably didn't include waking up every weekday at 5:30 a.m.
Little did he know he would need coffee or a liter of Mountain Dew to stay awake in first-period calculus or that he would have to retreat home after school to nap for several hours.
Such is life, though, for nearly 800 juniors and seniors at Lockport Township High School, where crowding has forced school officials to offer classes beginning at 6:50 a.m. for those students brave—and caffeinated enough—to take the challenge. Next year, all juniors and seniors will start school at 6:44 a.m., a fate sealed when Lockport voters rejected a fifth proposal last month to build a new high school.
Already, the change is creating logistical nightmares for officials, teachers, coaches and parent volunteers, who must juggle classes and times for the school's 4,000 students spread over two campuses. Under the current plan, seniors can complete their school days by 11:45 a.m., juniors by 1:44 p.m., while freshmen and sophomores won't be out of class until 3:44 p.m. Assemblies have been abandoned, and after-school activities limited.
Across Chicago and the collar counties, some of the largest school districts manipulate student schedules to ease the pressure of crowding in classrooms, gymnasiums and cafeterias.
The Chicago Public Schools have been tinkering with school lunchtimes at 17 area schools for years, shuffling children in and out of the lunch line as early as 9 a.m. A school district in Evanston is studying a proposal to make elementary school students start their days at 8 a.m. instead of 9.
But none has gone to such extremes as Lockport Township, whose severely staggered start times are creating hardship and headaches for everyone. "It doesn't matter how long you've been doing it, it's still a challenge to get up that early in the morning," said Johnson, who has chosen the early start time for two years. "This isn't that much fun."
Johnson liked the idea of getting out of school at 12:45 p.m., which allowed him to take a job with the forest preserves in the late afternoon and be more active in student government. Co-president of the student council, Johnson squeezes homework around his work schedule and evening meetings.
Johnson, who plans to study business at the University of Illinois next year, said the strain of so many early mornings takes a physical and mental toll. Students walk bleary-eyed through the halls, chugging coffee and energy drinks. School buses don't run that early, which means students have to drive, catch rides with friends or rely on their parents.
Even more significant, Johnson said, is that school takes up such a small part of your day that it seemingly becomes less important.
"It just kind of takes away from the whole school experience," he said.
There's also mounting research that high school students are more susceptible to sleepiness than younger students and that they have more trouble learning early in the morning. In study after study, including one published in the Wisconsin Journal of Medicine in 2003, high school students are shown to perform worse in school and develop social issues when plagued by a lack of sleep. Interestingly, students in elementary and middle schools were not shown to suffer such severe effects.
Lockport Township Principal Brett Gould said officials considered research like this before approving the "early bird" program. But he said the results seemed inconclusive and that students seemed to perform better in some subjects than others.
"We know some students like it and are having great success with it, but we know some kids will have some difficulty," he said.
Despite these concerns, more high schools in fast-growing Will County have embraced these early start times as a way to ease student crowding.
Lincoln-Way East High School in Frankfort, home to 4,100 students last year, experimented with 7 a.m. start times for juniors and seniors before the school district expanded to add a third high school this year.
Upperclassmen at Plainfield Central High School started at 7:20 a.m. for three years before the district opened a fourth high school this year. Life on campus became so structured that certain hallways were designated for one-way travel, said Plainfield Central Principal Bob Smith.
"It's very stressful, not only on students but on staff," he said. "We probably had more fights in the hallways because everyone was so worn out."
Jamie Collins, a senior at Lockport Township, said she opted to start at 6:50 a.m. because the school parking lot was typically full later in the morning. It's a decision she often second-guesses, now that water polo practice and other school activities keep her on campus most days until after 6 p.m.
"I regret my choice in the morning when I have to get up so early," said Collins, who often "sleeps in" until 5:45 a.m. Now she wonders how students forced to comply with the rigid scheduling next year will cope.
"If someone had made me do this my junior year, I couldn't have," Collins said. "You have to want to do this. You have to be motivated."
Lockport Township junior Kimmy Krzyszkowski said she won over her skeptical parents when she told them how much studying she could get done after school if her classes ended at 12:45 p.m. In reality, she said, she now needs that time after school to recharge her batteries for her other interests, which include drama, choir and student government. Krzyszkowski, the student government co-president with Johnson, said she doesn't really catch up on sleep until the week- end.
"You do what you have to, to get by," she said.
