Jhone Ebert
The Nevada State Board of Education will begin developing a regulation that places guard rails on school districts’ high school start times while balancing the physical and academic needs of students and school operations.
During the board’s July 26 meeting, Board President Felicia Ortiz presented a decision tree seeking to narrow members’ votes based on the past year’s findings from previous workshops held in Carson City and Las Vegas.
Board member Maggie Carlton also asked if a waiver process as a form of protection might be considered for schools that might be interested in participating in changing their start times but might be prohibited by their district if their administrators prevent them from doing so.
Workshops held earlier this year shared information from the National Sleep Foundation’s suggestions to delay school start times to at least 8:30 a.m. or ideally 9 a.m. as established start times as “guard rails” in schools.
But the state board has heard varying feedback based on academic and extracurricular activities from all over the state.
Eureka County School District Superintendent Tate Else, who oversees three public schools with populations of approximately 115, 160 and 40 students each on a four-day school week, told board members the rural lifestyle of his district on the eastern side of the state bring different demands for his district.
“My (school) parents are hounding me all the time to start earlier,” Else said. “I’m 100% in support of our students needing more sleep. … But it’s not feasible to do separate bus routes. I only get my last elementary students home in the dark. I think there’s a lot of factors like that. My local communities are pushing for earlier start times. I know I’m not the only school district in that scenario.”
In trying to establish if a shorter school day to encourage better student health while not sacrificing academic achievement in the process, the discussion examined Nevada’s current teaching models in the classroom. Board members talked about a framework for competency-based education in which students master subjects rather than spending time in seat and the freedom for districts to implement this model, which some schools have begun piloting.
Although the board generally agreed not to provide the guard rails specific for districts or communities yet, Ortiz said it was important for districts to understand what options they would be offering for families.
“That is a non-negotiable for us as a board,” she said.
Former Churchill County Superintendent Summer Stephens said during the board’s June meeting she was worried about “unintended consequences” with a regulation.
State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jhone Ebert told the board she had enough information to draft a regulation and will return to the board for its consideration.