Organizers of Parent Advocates for Later Start (PALS) are asking anyone interesrted in chaning the school start times for the Northshore School District, which includes Woodinville schools, to attend the Tuesday, June 12 meeting of the school board at 4 p.m. to voice their concerns.
PALS organizers sent the following letter to Woodinville Patch:
"Thank you to everyone who signed the PALS petition. There are now over 1,500 parents & student signatures, and it is growing! However, we need your help again. Unfortunately the school board has pushed the Later Start issue to the June 26 agenda “in order to determine if there is consensus to further the process at this time”, when school is out and many parents/students are on vacation. Therefore PALS would like parents/students to either speak during the public comment section at the beginning of the meeting or just be present to show support for a later start at the NSD board meeting on Tuesday June 12 at 4pm in the district offices. This may make a difference to the board’s decision later in June.
As a reminder PALS is asking to run two models, 20 minute later start for HS and 15 minute later start for JH, and to look at an 8.00 a.m. start in the future as things in the district fluctuate.To some of you 20 minutes may not seem worth it; however, published studies have shown that every 15 minutes of sleep for an adolescent can improve test scores, grades and overall wellbeing. Plus, a 7:30 high school start time will put NSD in line with all of our neighboring school districts who all start between 7:30 – 8:00 a.m. PLEASE COME ON JUNE 12 TO SHOW YOUR SUPPORT OF A LATER START!"
The Northshore School Board will meet at district headquarters at 3330 Monte Villa Parkway, Bothell, WA 98021.
