Update on Stillwater School Board's Proposed Change of Start Times
This is an update on Stillwater School Board’s proposal to change school start times in 2019-2020.
The Stillwater School Board met last night and one of the topics on the agenda was the proposed changes in starting time to accommodate a later start for the high school students. This change in start time for the high school would affect the start and end time for Salem students. In the proposals presented last night, Salem would start school between 9:15 and 9:40 a.m., and end between 3:45 and 4:10 p.m. Jane Grobe and I spoke on how starting later and getting out later would affect our students’ learning and how it would disrupt family schedules. The middle school, where some of our students participate in after-school extra-curricular activities, would have their school day ending at 2:00. That would mean if students left Salem for after-school activities, they could miss over 2 hours of instruction to be at the start of the middle school activities.
The board’s discussion on the action item cited comments made by speakers and other responses the district had received on this issue. The final result was a motion to “... deny the action item at this point and directing the Community Engagement Group to start having a preliminary discussion to create a subcommittee on this topic”. The motion passed with the understanding that the board would revisit this topic in one more year.
The link below sends you to the video of the March 8, Stillwater School Board meeting. The discussion on the change of start time can be found in the index under the video, “XI. Action Items”, point “A. Directive to Develop Start Time Proposal.” The Open Forum section isn’t listed on the agenda, but it starts at about 18:46 on the time stamp. Mrs. Grobe’s presentation starts at 51:48 and my presentation starts right after this.
March 8, Stillwater School Board Meeting
Roger Zolldan, Principal
Salem Lutheran School
The Stillwater School Board met last night and one of the topics on the agenda was the proposed changes in starting time to accommodate a later start for the high school students. This change in start time for the high school would affect the start and end time for Salem students. In the proposals presented last night, Salem would start school between 9:15 and 9:40 a.m., and end between 3:45 and 4:10 p.m. Jane Grobe and I spoke on how starting later and getting out later would affect our students’ learning and how it would disrupt family schedules. The middle school, where some of our students participate in after-school extra-curricular activities, would have their school day ending at 2:00. That would mean if students left Salem for after-school activities, they could miss over 2 hours of instruction to be at the start of the middle school activities.
The board’s discussion on the action item cited comments made by speakers and other responses the district had received on this issue. The final result was a motion to “... deny the action item at this point and directing the Community Engagement Group to start having a preliminary discussion to create a subcommittee on this topic”. The motion passed with the understanding that the board would revisit this topic in one more year.
The link below sends you to the video of the March 8, Stillwater School Board meeting. The discussion on the change of start time can be found in the index under the video, “XI. Action Items”, point “A. Directive to Develop Start Time Proposal.” The Open Forum section isn’t listed on the agenda, but it starts at about 18:46 on the time stamp. Mrs. Grobe’s presentation starts at 51:48 and my presentation starts right after this.
March 8, Stillwater School Board Meeting
Roger Zolldan, Principal
Salem Lutheran School
