January 26, 2023
Dear Shrewsbury Families & Colleagues,
Last evening, the School Committee voted unanimously to implement the "Modified Option A" school start and end time schedule for K-12 schools, effective next school year (beginning in August 2023). This schedule (attached below) was the consensus recommendation of the Sleep Health Advisory Committee. I also recommended this schedule, which I believe will provide important benefits of more sleep for adolescent students while taking other important programmatic, logistical, and financial considerations into account. To view the presentation of my recommendation to the School Committee, their comments, and vote, click here; to view my presentation slides click here. I appreciate the School Committee's thoughtful and deliberate approach to this important topic.
I wish to thank the 28 students, parents, educators, and school and district leaders who volunteered their time to serve on the Sleep Health Advisory Committee. The quantity and quality of their work on this important issue were highly commendable, and I deeply appreciate the many hours of service they provided to our school district to advance this very important work. You can find all of their reports and presentations that outline the importance and benefits of later start times for older students here.
The process of coming to this decision was extremely thorough, well-informed by data and research, provided multiple opportunities for stakeholders' feedback to be considered, and used that feedback to develop and adjust options. I want to thank all of you who took the time to provide your perspectives on this issue. While it is impossible to satisfy everyone's preferences when determining school schedules, all viewpoints were given thoughtful consideration. While there were understandably strong feelings among many, as your superintendent I am proud of the respectful way in which members of our school community communicated when debating this issue, even where there was disagreement.
As a school district, we will do our best to effectively implement this new schedule, and we will monitor its impact. In order to provide time for you to plan, I am pleased to present this new K-12 school start and end time schedule to you seven months prior to it going into effect with the 2023-2024 school year.
Respectfully,
Joe Sawyer
Superintendent of Schools
