Mapleton Public Schools Adams County School District No.1 591 E. 80th Avenue, Denver, CO 80229 Phone: 303-853-1000 Fax: 303-853-1086

York, John Dewey M.S. to start/end day 15 minutes earlier

After testing a later school day at its two middle schools, the Mapleton Board of Education voted Tuesday to move the school day 15 minutes earlier next year.

The school day at York and John Dewey middle schools will run from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. beginning in the fall.

The board changed the times from about 7:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. to 8:45 a.m. to 3:45 p.m. last May. The change, it was hoped, would make the school day align better with adolescent sleep patterns, give staff time in the morning for professional development activities, and help keep middle school students from having to wait at elementary campuses for their younger brothers and sisters before walking them home.

However, after several parents complained the new time was too inconvenient, the board agreed to use the new schedule as a pilot year, and to revisit the schedule change afterward.

"The change accomplished what we hoped it would," said Charlotte Scarpella, the Mapleton superintendent. "Teachers say their students are more awake, staff have time in the mornings for valuable development work, and the discipline incidents at the elementary schools involving middle school students have pretty much disappeared."

Still, Scarpella said, the district moved the time 15 minutes earlier to accommodate families who wanted more time in the afternoons for their children's athletic or social pursuits, or leave for work early in the morning.

As part of the 2001-2002 pilot year, the district conducted a public opinion survey to gauge the community's reaction about the change.

"The survey really highlighted the predicament of this issue," Scarpella said. "We learned about a third of our middle school parents really liked the change, about a third said they could live with it, and about a third really don't like it at all."

Scarpella said many of the complaints from parents came from those who have responsibilities outside the family to attend to early in the morning.
"Those parents said they needed to leave before their children were leaving for school, and were concerned about them getting to school unsupervised." Scarpella said.

Mapleton will work with the YMCA of Metropolitan Denver to create educational programming for students both before and after school, Scarpella said, to help those parents make the later school day less difficult to adapt to.

"The YMCA will provide these services to the community free of charge, at least for the first year," Scarpella said. "Beyond that, the YMCA's support will depend on how many children participate in the programs."

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