BARRINGTON — The debate over whether to change the start time for two Barrington public schools should focus entirely upon one main question: What start time would best serve Barrington students academically?
For high school students, the answer is a later start time.
Scientific data has shown that young teenagers, like those at Barrington High School, struggle with their class work during the early morning hours, while younger children, like those who attend Hampden Meadows School, perform better at earlier hours.
With that information in hand, the decision to switch the high school start time to later in the morning should be easy. Instead, the focus of the discussion has been shifted to the importance of extracurricular activities at the high school. Just look at what some students had to say about the potential change:
“Student athletes would be put at a huge disadvantage because they would have even less time for practice and homework.”
“It would bother me because I do many activities after school and they would all have to be pushed back due to a new time.”
“After-school activities will either be shortened or cut drastically into our time to do homework and other things, so we’d probably go to bed an hour or two later and therefore the new start time would do nothing.”
We’re not surprised that some students are more concerned with their after-school sports practices than with the school’s start time, but that shouldn’t be the driving force behind the potential change. The community needs to weigh its priorities and decide which is more important — sports game schedules or academic performance.
(For the record, we’re confident that the talented school administrators in Barrington will be able to address any necessary changes to after-school activities to ensure that they continue in the future.)
Meeting information
• What: Public meeting to discuss the possibility of changing the start of school times in Barrington
• When: Thursday, Jan. 26 at 7 p.m.
• Where: Barrington High School auditorium
• Who’s invited: The meeting is open to the public
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