Andover School Committee Sets New Start Times

ANDOVER, MA — The Andover School Committee approved a shift to school start times Thursday night for the 2021-2022 school year.

Andover High School and middle school start times will be 8:15 a.m. while elementary schools start times will be at 9 a.m.

All three times represent a shift later from the 2019-2020 school year, but the high school used the 8:15 a.m. start time for the pandemic year.

"These times were developed from extensive stakeholder feedback, and attempt to balance the benefits of later start times for middle and high school students with the goal of minimizing schedule impacts on elementary families," the School Committee said in a release. "The unanimous vote follows three years of study by the district and input from the community, including most recently a survey distributed to APS students, families, and staff with almost 1,700 responses and informal listening sessions for the community."

The School Committee began discussing a change to start times in 2018, with an eye toward the medical benefits to adolescents of waking up later.

The push to change start times faced significant opposition, particularly from elementary school parents who opposed changes to start times for their children. The committee ended up deciding not to change start times for the 2020-2021 school year at all — until the pandemic came along and they made the change for high school students, who were not bused.

The committee picked the discussion back up in the spring, inviting public feedback over recent weeks ahead of Thursday's meeting.

“Throughout the pandemic, we heard from many students, staff and families, expressing concerns about student well-being and mental health,” School Committee Chairperson Susan McCready said. “We share in these concerns and today’s vote affirms our extensive efforts that puts the focus on students first in Andover Public School policies and operations.”

Christopher Huffaker can be reached at 412-265-8353 or chris.huffaker@patch.com.