CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Start times for many schools in Kanawha County will change beginning next school year.
The Kanawha County Board of Education approved a plan this month to start school at 8:30 a.m. for high-schoolers, 8 a.m. for middle school students and 7:30 a.m. for elementary students.
Ron Reedy, principal at Sissonville High School, told 580-WCHS teenagers could benefit from starting their school day later rather than their current start time at 7:20 a.m.
“The 8:30 start time is going to be a big help to us because the research is very clear across the board that adolescents start waking up and they’re in the learning mode later in the day, certainly not before 8:30 in the morning,” he said.
Waking up at 5 a.m. or 6 a.m. is challenging for high school students, especially for those who play sports and participate in extracurricular activities, Reedy said.
“The kids find is very difficult sometimes. They have extracurricular activities that they’re away for a ball game or something like that and they don’t get home until 10:00 or so. That makes that 5 a.m. wake up very early,” he said.
Reedy said the new plan would allow them to end the day at 3:55 p.m.
Kelly Haynes, principal at Lakewood Elementary, said her school will start an hour earlier at 7:20 a.m. Right now their day starts at 8:25 a.m.
Younger kids, she said, are more alert in the morning compared to older kids who have more energy in the afternoon hours.
“What we notice in the elementary age is typically after lunch is when we start to see a sleepiness or a lull in the day, so we’re excited because it’s going to give us more time to educate children when they’re most alert,” Haynes said.
Lakewood Elementary will end the day around 2:30 p.m.
“Definitely think it’s going to be an adjustment for our school community, but once we get into the swing of things, I think everything’s going to be just fine,” Haynes said.