Members of the Bedford Board of Health last week agreed that advocacy for revising school start times will remain one of its goals for the current fiscal year.
But the chair of the School Committee said that for now, “a discussion of changing school start times is not a School Committee priority.”
“Superintendent (Cliff) Chuang is aware of the Board of Health’s interest in the topic and may choose to recommend beginning a process of start time review in a future year,” Dan Brosgol said.
During last week’s goals update, Board of Health member Maureen Richichi noted that the issue was formally prioritized in June 2022, followed by a presentation to the School Committee a little more than a year ago.
The health board cites research that indicates health improvements are gained by flip-flopping start times between older and younger students.
Richichi, a retired school nurse, has been the most vocal board member on the issue, which has been on the School Committee’s radar for several years. She said she has reached out to the School Committee’s liaison to her board “to see if she has any thoughts about when this is going to come up.”
Fiscal 2025 budget discussions are expected to dominate committee agendas at least through January.
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Let’s give the Superintendent an opportunity to finalize his entrance plan so that he has all the information at hand and can then prioritize issues like this. This is certainly on his radar and will be something that will be addressed.