Superintendent considering later start time for CHS

School Superintendent Jeff Granatino will be forming a study group of teachers, students, and parents to discuss the possibility of later start times at Canton High School.

Addressing the issue at Monday night’s School Committee meeting, Granatino acknowledged that a time change would impact start times at other schools and practice times for athletics. However, he said there is also sufficient data that shows that high school students are more productive and perform better on tests with a later start time.

Other local communities, including Hingham, Duxbury, Sharon and Bedford, have implemented similar programs. Sharon recently moved its start time to 8:05 a.m. with the school day now ending at 2:40 p.m. Sports practices do not begin until 3:30.

At CHS, classes start at 7:20 a.m. The middle school begins at 7:45, the Hansen and JFK schools begin at 8:25, and the Luce begins at 8:55.

In other matters on Monday, Granatino reported a total school enrollment of 3,234, which he said is about the same as last year. He also gave the committee an early indication of class sizes, which in most cases were within the district’s pre-established guidelines.

All three elementary schools have an average class size between 20 and 22, according to the superintendent, although a few individual grades have higher averages, including the Luce fifth grade (25 students) and the JFK second grade (24 students), which lost one teacher due to budget cuts.

At the Hansen School, both the first and third grades were affected by staff reductions; however, class sizes in both grades are well within guidelines with averages of 18 and 21, respectively.

As for the middle school, Granatino reported an overall student count of 760 and class sizes ranging from a low of 18 in foreign language to a high of 24 in wellness.

At the high school, he reported 890 students and average class sizes ranging from 20.4 in English to 22.6 in science. There are also a few larger classes, including some with 30 students or more.

In other news, Martha Lawless, head of the school district’s food service program, informed the committee of her plans to start a school breakfast program sometime during the year, perhaps beginning at the high school.

She suggested a daily price of $1.25 for breakfast, which would be offered at a free or reduced rate for students who qualify. She said that the preparation would not be a problem but that she needed the committee’s support regarding morning supervision and bus arrival times.

Lawless noted that many high school students either do not eat anything prior to coming to school or get hungry before lunch. Janet Donnelly, the schools’ nurse leader, added that many students went to the nurse last year during the morning hours and asked for juice or crackers while complaining of a headache or a stomachache.

Lawless also pointed to a greater level of need, with as many as 400 students expected to apply for the free and reduced lunch program — compared to just 150 students last year.

School Committee members agreed with Lawless about the importance of breakfast; however, they said there is little to no money available given the recent budget constraints.

They suggested that she offer breakfast items at a “grab and go” station or perhaps at the school store. Several committee members also urged students to pack an energy or granola bar in their backpacks for a morning snack.

In other news:

* Donnelly gave a presentation on the importance and expanded role of the school nurse in today’s schools. She cited several relevant statistics, including the fact that 93.9 percent of students seen by a nurse in Canton return to class, which is better than the state average of 90 percent.

She also noted that approximately 35 percent of the school population was treated for special health care needs last year.

Donnelly is hoping that state health officials continue to provide grant money for the school nurse program, which enables the system to have at least one nurse per school and improved equipment and technology.

* In anticipation of another challenging budget season, School Committee members agreed to review the foreign language offerings at the middle and high schools, particularly German and Latin.

* Eighth grader Ben Berkowitz, son of Police Chief Ken Berkowitz, is organizing a “Project Pencil” drive to aid students in Afghanistan. A community-wide drive will be planned to collect unused pencils.

* Firefighter Craig Woodbury will be teaching fire safety education to all third grade students in October, which is Fire Safety Month.

* The School Committee’s next meeting is scheduled for Thursday, October 6.

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Posted by Mike Berger on Sep 21 2011. Filed under News, Schools. Both comments and pings are currently closed.