Members of the Mercer Island School Board weighed the feasibility of implementing a world language program, as well as moving back high school start times, at its summer retreat Thursday, June 25 at City Hall.
Superintendent Dr. Gary Plano acknowledged both issues were technical issues that were “tethered together,” with plenty of variables in play that would have significant implications on how the board would decide to move forward. Neighboring school districts in Bellevue and Seattle are in the process of exploring later school start times, and the Legislature still had not resolved basic education funding.
“Because the Legislature hasn’t completed its work, we don’t know what could be covered by the local levy, we don’t know the size of the local levy, we don’t know what our Schools Foundation could fund,” Plano said. “We’re very premature and trying to answer all those questions.”
Board member Adair Dingle said while it would be fabulous to have world languages in Mercer Island Schools, her greatest concern was where the money would come from.
“I don’t know how we could move forward substantially with the world language program unless we had a better idea of what the finances would be,” she said.
Plano noted he has to change bell times within the district, even if high school start times didn’t change and even if a world language program wasn’t added, because of a schedule anomaly on early-release Wednesdays.
“I see the decision on early release day connected to anything I do with elementary bell times,” Plano said. “It all depends on the variable called ‘high school start time,’ and my timeline on this initiative is the end of the calendar year.”
The High School Start-Time Committee, Mercer Island’s joint research committee with the Bellevue School District, recommended to the School Board earlier this month that no changes be made to current high school bell times after conducting six months of community outreach.
A survey of more than 1,200 respondents taken by the committee showed more than half of those surveyed opposed to moving back start times to 8:30 a.m. for the 2016-17 school year.
A total of 44 percent of respondents answered they were strongly opposed, while eight percent said they were somewhat opposed. Feedback was particularly negative from those involved with the band and orchestra programs, as well as among faculty members regarding the impact of students leaving school early for athletics.
But board members Dingle and Dave Myerson pushed the issue, citing the growing amount of evidence supporting the value of later high school start times to students.
In Bellevue, the committee recommended that the district move the high school start time to 8:30 a.m. beginning in the fall of 2016. The Bellevue School District has yet to make an official decision.
“I don’t think we can move [start times] unless Bellevue moves to 8:30,” board member Ralph Jorgenson commented. “Otherwise, I just don’t see it happening in terms of athletics and in terms of the public interest.”
Plano said the district would have a little bit of time to see what happens in the legislative session before he would need a decision, at the latest, by this winter.
The board agreed to revisit world languages and start times at a later date, when board members would have a better idea of what to expect from the Legislature, or possibly after more information was provided regarding high school start times.
