Wednesday
May 1, 2024 
Backed into a corner, a majority of Quakertown Community board members reluctantly approved new start times for middle and high school students at their one and only meeting on the issue.
Beginning next week, students at the high school will start 30 minutes later at 8:15; middle school will start 35 minutes earlier at 7:30. Assistant Superintendent Nancianne Edwards cited studies showing fewer driving accidents and the academic benefits of additional sleep; however, board members and speakers scoffed at that notion, saying high schoolers would take advantage and stay up later.
Had directors voted against the revisions, the start of the school year could have been significantly delayed, Edwards claimed. She said it would have taken up to six weeks to adjust all the variables in the master schedule and up to three weeks for the busing schedule.
Seeing cost reductions and a resolution to the bus staffing crisis that plagued the district last year, administrators unilaterally implemented changes to school start times over the summer, leaving little time for the public to discuss and digest the full implications. One of those will most certainly be missed academic time. While home games have been delayed, high school students are still likely to miss at least one and a half classes for away games because of the later start times.
Leanne Haberly, who served on the school start time committee before it was dissolved in 2019, questioned the district’s priorities, calculating high school athletes would miss about nine hours of instructional time in an eight-week season. She also questioned the wisdom of allowing middle school students to come home early, where they are likely to be alone.
Another parent who lives on Milford Square Pike complained her 11-year-old would have to walk to the bus in the dark in an area without sidewalks. “I can’t understand for a life of me that a district that goes off Safety First thinks this is a good idea.”
Calling attendance at meetings abysmal, regular commentator David O’Donnell urged the public to be more involved. “There’s a lot of Monday morning quarterbacking on Facebook complaining about things. You’ll get more of a response if you’re actually here.”
O’Donnell also highlighted the late public notice on such a consequential issue and called on the board to hold the administration accountable. “If it’s not on the agenda for x number of days, it cannot be implemented.”
Directors, who had declined a June meeting on the school start issue, agreed, with many stating throughout the evening that the board needs to do better.
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