Starting school later in the morning would affect a wide swath of New Canaan, from teachers, administrators, coaches and bus drivers to parents, local business owners and organizations whose programming is built, in part, around the school day as it currently is set. Since the prospect of later start times first emerged at a public meeting last summer, New Canaan Public Schools administrators have studied the matter internally and, at the most recent Board of Ed meeting, parents who favor a chance made their voices heard. One key group that hasn’t yet weighed in are school-age kids. So, I asked NCHS graduate and videographer Nils Andersson to head downtown last Friday afternoon and ask them what they think. The video above captures some of their responses.
—Michael Dinan
The later start times will help only if the students go to bed at the same time they do now. I doubtful that the students will. I believe that they will stay up later and get the same amount of sleep they do today.