Hamilton parents worry earlier school start will hurt kids’ learning

Even with an 8:35 a.m. start time, Natasha Lawford doesn't always get enough sleep.

The 16-year-old high school student plays Ontario Player Development League (OPDL) soccer, typically practising four nights a week until 9 p.m.

I find it tough to make sometimes even though I live in a walking distance," said Lawford. I'm up really late already and just super physically and mentally tired from school and practice."

Lawford, who has to get up at 7 a.m. in order to eat breakfast and get out the door, said she often gets just seven hours to sleep. On average, teens need between eight and 10 hours.

Starting in September, her classes at Westdale Secondary School in central Hamilton, will start even earlier - at 8 a.m.

I don't think it's sustainable," she said.

A Westdale parent has launched a petition - which had nearly 300 signatures as of Thursday evening - to protest bell time changes that will affect 70 Hamilton schools. School start times will now fall anywhere between 8 a.m. and 9:30 a.m.

All 10 high schools affected will start between five and 35 minutes earlier than the current school year.

There's the larks and the owls in the sleep world," said Tina Moffat, whose 15-year-old son is going into Grade 10 next year. The owls get punished."

Teens, studies show, are more likely to be owls.

A 2019 study of students at 49 Ontario high schools found that a 10-minute advance in start times were associated with steeper sleep duration declines than schools with consistent start times." By contrast, students slept an average of nearly 25 minutes longer when school started 10 minutes later.

Lead researcher Karen Patte explained in a release that when teens reach puberty there's a shift in the body's circadian clock so that melatonin is released at a later time, meaning that adolescents get tired later at night."

Research from the University of Minnesota found that later school start times are linked to improved academic performance and a decrease in symptoms of depression, substance abuse and lateness.

At the elementary level, the majority - 40 of the 60 affected schools - will have later start times.

The later drop-offs ... are really, really disruptive for families of elementary school kids," said Moffat, a member of Westdale's parent council. You can't bring your kindergarten kid to the schoolyard and leave them and get to work."

The changes, allowing boards to reduce the total number of school buses and increase the number of runs each bus completes, are a result of a joint bell time study between Hamilton's public and Catholic boards through the Hamilton-Wentworth Student Transportation System (HWSTS).

Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board (HWDSB) chair Dawn Danko said families and students have made it very clear that we need to address our school bus driver shortage."

No formal consultation with families was held, she said.

The Hamilton area has experienced driver shortages - attributed to changing demographics and compensation, among other factors - for years, which have been exacerbated by the pandemic.

Through the reorganization, the HWSTS was able to eliminate 27 buses, the HWDSB says.

Conducting a bell times study was an important way to find efficiencies in student transportation," Danko said.

In total, about 30 per cent of students in the Hamilton area ride the school bus.

Another factor in the decision was the expected cost increases as a result of expiring contracts, Hamilton-Wentworth Catholic Board chair Pat Daly said.

This is a way to reduce costs with a little impact on families as possible," he said. We clearly do not in any way diminish the impact on families."

Kate McCullough is a Hamilton-based reporter covering education at The Spectator. Reach her via email: kmccullough@thespec.com