The length of the school day in middle school and high school has been increased for the 2013–14 school year, but students haven’t been exactly thrilled about it so far.
Sagar Desai, the student representative for Cherry Hill High School East on the Board of Education, gave feedback from the student body at last week’s board meeting that suggested the longer school day may not be having positive effects on students.
For this school year, the school district added 30 minutes to the school day for students. The start time for the high schools was moved up to 7:30 a.m., while the middle school start time is now 8 a.m. This increased the student day at both levels to seven hours.
The school day at the elementary schools was unchanged and remains at six hours.
Desai’s big concern was the increase of traffic accidents on Springdale Road. He stated that there were no student-related accidents on the road all of last year. This year, there have already been three.
The accidents have resulted in major traffic delays and have led to many students arriving late.
“This is a very big concern for both students and teachers, because everyone is affected,” Desai said.
The effects of the earlier start time are not just related to traffic. Desai said that students are having trouble focusing early in the morning. This is not just coming from students, but also teachers who are reporting an increase of students falling asleep or not showing up to early morning classes.
“It’s not an intentional purpose, really, it’s that they are feeling so tired that they can’t bring themselves to go to class,” Desai said.
The concern by Desai is that these reports may have negative effects on the students’ learning.
The board and administration initiated the longer school day earlier in the year during negotiations for the last teachers’ contract that extended the length of the teachers’ day.
The district’s public information officer, Susan Bastnagel, said the intention was to allow for more instructional time for the students to help improve their learning, not hamper it.
“The additional instructional time for the students is always a good thing,” Bastnagel said.
In other news:
• The Board of Education will be discussing changes to the open enrollment policy at Rosa International Middle School in the coming weeks. Discussion of policy revisions will be featured at the board’s work session on Nov. 12 and the action meeting on Nov. 26. The main changes to the policy will be requiring a commitment by students when they apply to Rosa, the removal of the word “lottery” from the policy and the elimination of the waiting list.Rosa is open to all fifth graders in the school district. Students who do not attend Rosa are assigned to Beck or Carusi middle schools based on where they live.
• The Board of Education honored a number of staff members who had served in the school district for anywhere from 25 to 45 years. Superintendent Maureen Reusche stated that these staff members had 626 years of service among them and had showcased their dedication to the district over their many years. “They serve as models, not only for the children in our schools, but models for the teachers who come into our system.”
