The Clear Creek School District School Start Committee is in the process of receiving public feedback regarding start time options for the 2020-2021 school year for elementary, intermediate and high school.
The committee of parents, students, medical professionals and CCISD staff have met on a weekly basis since Sept. 24, and examined available research on sleep patterns of youth of all ages, state instructional time requirements, current transportation operations and challenges, schedules of extracurricular and co-curricular programs, and survey results from students.
“The group was provided a great deal of information to process through,” Superintendent of Schools Dr. Greg Smith said. “They were committed to the guidelines and charges to ensure student safety K-12, maximize student opportunities to participate in special programs from WAVE and Science Magnet to the arts and athletics, and consider public feedback all the while making efficient use of taxpayer resources. I am thankful for their attention to the task at hand.”
The committee reviewed several model schedules and used a nominal group exercise to narrow the recommendation from the five potential schedules below. The group operated on the board approved consensus model. “As we started to draft recommendations, we followed these requirements. There must be a minimum of 45 minutes between school start times by level. The school year must be 75,600 minutes by state law. Finally, intermediate schools need to remain the last start time due to magnet transportation to six of the ten magnet schools,” said Rene Falls, committee chairman and parent.
| Elementary | Intermediate | High School | |
| Current | 7:55 a.m. – 3:15 p.m. | 8:40 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. | 7:10 a.m. – 2:30 p.m. |
| Model 1 | 8:15 a.m. – 3:35 p.m. | 9:00 a.m. – 4:20 p.m. | 7:30 a.m. – 2:50 p.m. |
| Model 2 | 7:30 a.m. – 2:50 p.m. | 9:00 a.m. – 4:20 p.m. | 8:15 a.m. – 3:35 p.m. |
| Model 3 | 8:30 a.m. – 3:45 p.m. | 9:15 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. | 7:45 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. |
| Model 4 | 7:45 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. | 9:15 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. | 8:30 a.m. – 3:45 p.m. |
The group narrowed its options to three models, the current schedule, Model 1 and Model 4. Through another nominal group exercise, the current schedule and Model 1 emerged as the majority options to bring forward for public input. “After much discussion, the committee was unable to reach consensus on a single recommendation. A large portion of the committee wanted to keep the current schedule and slightly smaller portion of the committee wanted to adjust the current schedule by 20 minutes,” said Falls.
| Elementary | Intermediate | High School | |
| Current | 7:55 a.m. – 3:15 p.m. | 8:40 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. | 7:10 a.m. – 2:30 p.m. |
| Model 1 | 8:15 a.m. – 3:35 p.m. | 9:00 a.m. – 4:20 p.m. | 7:30 a.m. – 2:50 p.m. |
These two options are open for public feedback. A public hearing was held on Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2019 and can be viewed online. The public can still provide their feedback electronically through the district’s website. The committee will make a final recommendation to present to the Clear Creek ISD School Board on Nov. 11, 2019. The Clear Creek ISD School Board will make the final decision on Monday, Nov. 18, 2019 during its regular school board meeting.
