Reverse the "School Start Time" Initiative

Taxpaying Ridgefield resident. One child at RHS, one graduate.

Taxpayer and Parent of RHS student. The change will ultimately take funds away from education and will create more stress for our already stressed high schoolers. It will result in sports having to be played without proper warmup to prevent injury or to be forfeited. Leaving classes early to make sports commitments will adversely affect their education. They will not end up getting more sleep but will be up later finishing homework as their whole day will be pushed later. It will be a logistic and financial burden for families who need older siblings to care for younger ones or wait for them at the bus stop. Currently without a superintendent, out board’s time would be better spent on other matters.

No late start time.

I do not agree with the proposed start times and this will effect my children tremendously.

Children at ERMS and VP

We all stated our opinion loud and clear when we took the survey. You chose to spend the money on the survey and then ignore it and waste the taxpayers dollars. That in itself was negligent. I understand why - you chose to oil the squeaky wheels. Well, WE are the squeaky wheels now. We need to spend school budget money wisely - not extra on buses. We also need to face reality. HS students will get up later, end classes later, go to after-school activities later, eat dinner later, do homework later and go to bed later. They won't get more sleep. Listen to the parents, students and teachers - not just the parents that threaten to sue. ERMS and RHS parent (and taxpayer)

taxpayer I am new to the SSL topic as my kids are in preschool. with that, I only see data aligning with SSL for high school kids and no other age group. If this must happen, it should be targeted as the evidence suggests and not blanketed; though absolutely nothing should be done until the Superintendents post has been filled.

Taxpaying RPS parent--SRMS & RHS-- opposed to changing start times.

Kids can't get up early because they go to bed too late.

Taxpayer. RHS '86

When it comes to opposing views, there are two sides to every story. And then there is the truth. Over the past year, during board meetings and through your provided survey, parents, teachers and students have voiced their opinions on the proposed school start times. With the survey results largely choosing no change, there still seems to be an agenda to push forward with a change to benefit high school students. This is being done with the belief that that the science is clear. I caution you to beware of science versus reality. It's time you look at things from a different perspective. Throughout the 1980’s a number of studies were published in the International Journal of Epidemiology and the Journal of the American Medical Association providing documentation for the protective effect of smoking on Alzheimer’s as well as a lower incidence of colorectal cancer. It’s true! Nicotine was shown to actually have a beneficial effect in protecting patients from developing Alzheimer’s- a terrible disease that robs the individual and their loved ones from a life they’ve known. Why then, if smoking could prevent Alzheimer’s, didn’t the medical world educate the public about these findings? The answer is that the negative consequences of smoking are so profound on the rest of the body, doing what may be right to fight one disease does not override the damage it does to almost every other system of the body. The science can be very misleading. As Board members, you are elected officials that represent the community as a whole. In the interest of having more information on which to base your decision, you asked for the community’s feedback. We provided that. Do not let the science mislead you. The decision of the Board should to be focused on what is best for ALL its students, of ALL ages.

Bay Area transplant to Ridgefield - love it! Dad of 2 boys at Barlow Mtn. How about the fact that Ridgefield put on the ballot to eliminate the BOE budget simply with 2% of people showing up at a meeting. What the heck is that about? #nottransparent. Not cool. Then this? What's the agenda really here then? We need to get our schools BACK to 10/10 as many schools have dropped and this is not the time to further impact them with CT economy in the dump too. Bad schools and poor state economy means EVEN more people will leave. I'm starting to wonder who's at the helm at BoE with respect to that ballet initiative and now this. I want to see 100% more funding in STEM, tech labs, 3d printers and better school security to safeguard our kids.

Taxpaying RPS parent (RHS, SRMS)

Ridgefield taxpayer and Branchville parent

Stop wasting our money

Bigger issue here that shoukd be addressed. The one thing I always wished the state of CT would look at and pay attention to or spend money on is changing the CT state rule of the number of hrs that are allowed in a day for CT schools. Ct schools in my opinion are far far behind other places in the country in terms of allowing a few extra minutes each day to extend the school year ro help with weather related occurrences. So so many states and school systems allow for 10 extra minutes or whatever a day and their last day of school never or hardly changes. Last year was in sane in that kids went to school until June 30th I believe and there was talk of maybe taking memorial day away. That's just insane in my opinion. And to start a new school year with one extra day already for the prior year. With weather patterns changing due to global warming this issue will never end. But a state can be prepared a pay attention to ans make changes to help in this regard. Washington DC does this and gets out in mid August every year because they do this. Texas does the same and our ending date of school is may 30th. Due to weather here we start August 15thish but always get out of school may 30th or a few days after if we go beyond the five so days that get built in due to a few extra minutes each day. Ans each year it gets reevaluated to start a little sooner. Here in Texas elemengary does start first, then intermediate school, then junior high and senior high. But Texas has the money and CT does not. If still a resident I'd like to see tax dollars spent on the start time for weather related issue vs just for children's health reasons. There's a bigger issue in my opinion here then just start time for children's health. Lastly, there are a lot of locations that are starting to implement and explore a 4 day school week vs 5 to save money too. There's research showing how it's actually really helpful to budgets and children's learning is not being impacted. It's hard for families

Taxpayer. RHS ‘81. Seems to me an inopportune time without a superintendent. Plus, news of so many pressing infrastructure issues

The one thing I always wished the state of CT would look at and pay atte tion to or soe d money on is changing the CT state rule of the number of hrs that are allowed in a day for CT schools. Ct schools in my opinion are far far behind other places in the country in terms of allowing a few extra minutes each day to extend the school year ro help with weather related occurrences. So so many states and school systems allow for 10 extra minutes or whatever a day and their last day of school never or hardly changes. Last year was in sane in that kids went to school until June 30th I believe and there was talk of maybe taking memorial day away. That's just insane in my opinion. And to start a new school year with one extra day already for the prior year. With weather patterns changing due to global warming this issue will never end. But a state can be prepared a pay attention to ans make changes to help in this regard. Washington DC does this and gets out in mid August every year because they do this. Texas does the same and our ending date of school is may 30th. Due to weather here we start August 15thish but always get out of school may 30th or a few days after if we go beyond the fi e or so days that get built in due to a few extra minutes each day. Ans each year it gets reevaluated to start a little sooner. Here in Texas elemengary does start first, then intermediate school, then junior high and senior high. But Texas has the money and CT does not. If still a resident I'd like to see tax dollars spent on the start time for weather related issue vs just for children's health reasons. There's a bigger issue in my opinion here then just start time for children's health. Lastly, there are a lot of locations that are starting to implement and explore a 4 day school week vs 5 to save money too. There's research showing how it's actually really helpful to budgets and children's learning is not being impacted. It's hard for families that have to work but other businesses lik

I was a resident up until last year with three kids in elementary. I agree with Kathy's stance that money could be spent in other places right now. Espically in CT where the State is in a financial crisis. Why introduce something that costs a lot of money unless it's better to do it now at an expense to save a good amount of money in the future. If for that reason I'd support it if I was still a resident as long as it didn't harm the majority of the school system or the children in it. If it's not for financial reasons and just for other reasons I'd so no right now in any state that does not have the money to spend extra.

Taxpaying RPS parent (Ridgebury Elementary School)