By Megan Kelley

Review Writer

As Lake Orion Community Schools begins to plan for next year, one of the proceeding topics of exploration is school start times.

According to district administration, study after study has shown that high school-aged students do not function at their highest capacity in the morning, and that pushing back to a later start time could be beneficial to the high school learning environment.

“Research, as you are aware, says that if we can allow our older students to sleep in a little bit more in the morning, that is best for them,” said Assistant Superintendent of Teaching and Learning Heidi Mercer.

Though there are no changes as of yet, the discussion has been had in the past, specifically about high school start times.

Several years ago, district administrators sought to implement a “flex schedule” at the high school which would allow students to begin school later than usual. However, beginning school at a later time meant staying in school later as well, a concept a vast majority of high schoolers did not quite like enough for the schedule to come to fruition.

This time around, the district is looking at the possibility of pushing back the high school start time altogether. This switch would likely result in a change across the district as it would have to work in tandem with transportation and other district operations, programming and athletics.

“It really is a complicated puzzle with our tiers, the number of buses, the number of routes and of course the number of drivers that we have,” Mercer said.

At the beginning of February, the district performed an administrative Thought Exchange to receive input on things the district needs to consider should they choose to move forward with a change in start times. The district also spoke with C5 Union representatives, had a staff Thought Exchange, met with the high school Leadership class, spoke with the board’s curriculum committee and is expected to seek community and parent feedback as well.

It is likely that, should the shift be made, the elementary school start times would be the same across the board (currently, half of the elementary schools begin at 8:15 a.m. and the other half at 8:50 a.m.) and the middle school start times would stay the same (7:35 a.m.).

It’s anticipated that should the high school start time change, the district would look at starting school at around 8:15 a.m. and ending at around 3:20 p.m. The Wednesday “late start” schedule would continue as well.

“Any later than 3:20 p.m. you’re really eating into more sporting events, kids that work; it just becomes a little more difficult,” Mercer said.

Should this be something the district decides to pursue further, the board is expected to receive a larger presentation on the topic in the future.

“We keep reviewing this at cabinet every week and if we decide to go forward then we will bring a bigger presentation before you,” said Mercer.