School Board Finalizes Later Start Times for Next Year

School+Board+Finalizes+Later+Start+Times+for+Next+Year

Lucy Wagner and Maya Durham

Teenagers, start planning to set your alarm clock forward an hour next year.

ICCSD School Board members decided on the 2016-2017 bell schedules at last night’s meeting. School start times were decided for both elementary schools and secondary schools. Elementary will start at 7:55 am and end at 2:55 pm. Secondary will start at 8:50 am and end at 4:00 pm.

Many members of the Iowa City community were outraged by the 2015-2016 bell schedules, in which secondary schools had earlier start times than elementary schools. This reaction led to task-force meetings on the issue. Participants of the task force meetings included parents, teachers, elementary students, secondary students, coaches, school board members, and other members of the community.

Students have been speaking out about the new bell schedules.

“I’m excited for the new schedule; I want to sleep later,” Mary Liebig ‘18 said.

Other students were not as enthusiastic.

“Sports will be affected. If it’s dark, there is less practice time if you are outside,” Bridget Brown ‘18 said.