LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) – The Nevada State Board of Education has a question for all of the students, parents and teachers out there. What time should high school start?
The Board just released an online survey asking for input on later start times. The survey comes as the State Board of Education is looking for solutions to challenges like chronic absenteeism and behavioral issues among students.
A Clark County High School teacher says the move could come with unintended consequences.
Take it from English teacher, Daniel Tillman. He says a later start would most likely mean students with attendance issues at 7 a.m. will still have those same issues hours later.
He also mentioned the domino effect on families with a later start time.
“I don’t see many parents saying ‘yes, please send my kids to school later, so that they can’t help me and support our family,’” Tillman said.
That’s because Tillman says a later start time for working high school students could mean their hours at work get cut.
“If we push the start time later, then that means they get out later and now where they’ve been able to work maybe eight hours, if their shift doesn’t start until 4 pm, the same amount of time 4 p.m. to 10 p.m., now they’ve lost two additional hours that they could have worked,” Tillman said. That’s assuming students get out around 1:15 p.m., and clock in at 2 p.m.
The State Board of Education’s survey doesn’t include missing work hours as some of the potential challenges of later high school start times in its survey.
But in its list of potential benefits, additional sleep, improved academic performance, school attendance and alertness are options you can fill out, which the board says are key challenges.
But Tillman isn’t sure it will make a difference.
“I haven’t seen specifically where they have pointed to the significant gains that changing the start time that would actually prove to be beneficial,” Tillman said.
For its part, “the Board has deliberated this topic at length, and had feedback from district and school administrators.”
The Board floated a similar idea last school year.
We previously reported how pushing back school start times would be costly.
Including adding millions of dollars of new buses and drivers, and having some students walk miles to class.
“We don’t have enough drivers as is so how are we going to address the issue of transportation,” Tillman said. “It’s not fair to our high school students that many of them have to take the city bus, but the unfortunate reality is, while we do have the school busses to transport the kids, we just don’t have the drivers.”
Survey results could lead to the development of a bill draft request for the 2025 legislative session.
We did ask for an interview with the Board of Education later in the day, but they could not accommodate our request.
The survey is open through October 4th.
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