New Start Time

            Pushing the Park High School start time back an hour has caused some disruption for students and staff.  During the ’08-’09 school year, school began for students at 7:35 and ended at 2:05.  This year, however, the start time has been set back an hour to 8:35, thus pushing the end time to 3:05.  This hour may not seem like much of a difference, but it has affected student life in many ways.

            One of the reasons the time was changed was so that students would get more sleep.  By giving students another hour to prepare, they would more likely get another hour of sleep.  Most students who use this extra hour of sleep agree that it leaves them more ready and awake for school.  For others, it means another hour to stay up at night.  Whichever way you use it, this extra hour is intended to help both night owls and early birds.

            The trouble comes into play after school.  Between clubs, athletics, theatre, and jobs, students have a lot they can do after school.  Although school gets out an hour later, sports and jobs keep their schedules.

            “I believe the change in start times has negative affects on sports and after school activities,” says Junior Sam Arnal.

            Because sports keep the same schedule, students do not have time to go home and work on homework before practice.  Those who are employed still have to put in the same amount of hours and may have to go right from school to work.  Most of these people don’t get home until the late evening, leaving them with a short amount of time to do homework.

            “It seems like a really long day,” says social studies teacher Mr. Moran.  He is also on of the coaches for Cross Country.  Lately, he has had to take kids out of school at 1:00 just to get athletes to their meets on time.  This means a whole hour is lost for the participating athletes, and for some, a lunch period as well.

            Since athletics and jobs are starting right after school, these students do not have the time to attend other clubs or activities after school.  For this reason, some clubs have changed their meetings to before school.  However, most of these meetings have been moved to Tuesdays and Thursdays, limiting students in the amount of groups they can attend.  Although the lunch schedule has been shortened into four lunch periods, as opposed to five the previous year, the last lunch isn’t until 1:10.  This is especially hard to wait for without breakfast.  Another issue comes up with carpooling.  Many high school students are responsible for picking up their younger siblings from school.  However, some elementary schools get out an hour before Park does, forcing their brothers and sisters to wait.

            This change is not only affecting students; teachers and staff are dealing with changes as well.  Although the start time has been pushed back, teachers still need to get here at the same time to prepare for class.  Teacher meetings have been moved to the morning.  All teachers have to stay after for a half an hour to work on lesson plans and prepare for the next day.  This causes many teachers to feel the crunch to get home, pick up their kids, and prepare supper for their families.

            An hour can make a lot of difference in your schedule.  Whether we like it or not, the school start time has changed and has been put into action.  We can use this time to our benefit and use our time management skills to deal with its effect on our daily lives.  Let’s use this extra hour to our advantage.