The first day of Newberg’s spring break brought with it several surprises: a skiff of snow on roads and yards, definitely unusual in late March. There was also an announcement from Newberg Public Schools: start times for the elementary, middle, and high schools would be earlier next year.
For this current school board, the confusing nature of the announcement and the lack of transparency about how the decision was made is definitely not unusual.
Actually, the district made its announcement just before 5 p.m. on Friday, letting parents know on their Facebook and Instagram pages about the change. The backlash was almost immediate: two days later, almost 240 comments have been made on the Facebook page alone, many of them by angry parents who feel left out of the decision-making process–parents for whom even a 20 minute shift in start times will mean disruptions for their children.
The Newberg School District policy is clear: the superintendent is well within his right to make a decision about start times unilaterally, without the feedback of educators, parents, or even the school board. Yet for a superintendent and board who seem focused on parents’ rights, and who fashion themselves as “the parent’s (sic) choice” (at least according to campaign material), the lack of transparency about the change is troubling, especially when compared to past boards and past superintendents.
Ahead of proposed start time changes in 2021-22, the school board convened an ad-hoc committee: to study the data; comb through research on what early start times mean for younger children as well as teens; get feedback from the community; and make a recommendation to the school board for approval (even though, again, then-Superintendent Joe Morelock could have made a unilateral decision).
If you look at meeting minutes from January 12, 2021, you can see their robust report, including links to research about sleep and mental health, as well as an explanation of scientific research on start times (the report starts on page 31 of an extensive board packet). The ad-hoc committee also met with community members on January 5, 2021, as well as compiling data from a survey sent to all parents in the district. In March of that year, Superintendent Morelock provided a final report to all families in the district, preparing them for the announcement about new start times.
This weekend, on the school district’s Facebook page, parents feared that a decision was made without their input, especially given the extraordinary hardship an earlier start and release time might have for working families and for children’s time with parents at home. In some comments, parents reflected on the struggle their children are already experiencing with early start times, and their concerns about kids waiting for buses in winter morning darkness. A number of parents asked Had anyone asked parents about how the changes would impact them?
Apparently high school parents were surveyed near the last day of school in June 2022, but younger parents were not asked for feedback. Since then, there has been no follow up about how that survey data was used. Questions on the post about the lack of feedback regarding the school district announcement were met with confusing responses.
One response from the school communication team noted the district was still compiling data, and thus couldn’t share it yet; but then, in subsequent responses, the same person said that the data had been compiled, but couldn’t yet be shared. Both answers were confusing, especially when the communications team seemed to be editing answers on the fly, making the decision seem even less informed.
A person who will no doubt be happy about the controversial decision is Chair Dave Brown, the self-appointed parent’s choice for reelection in Zone 6. In 2021, Brown tried to compel the board to choose earlier start times for high school students (and subsequently middle and elementary schools as well), despite overwhelming evidence that this change was unwanted by many parents and students in the district. His fundamental consideration seems to be high school athletes who might miss afternoon classes to travel to competitions, and whose practices would be affected by a later dismissal time.
The meeting minutes leading up to the decision in 2021 show in stark relief the one-time transparency of Newberg’s school boards, their integrity in communicating with the public, and their desire to make sure that all Newberg students were well served by the policies they created, including start and dismissal times for all schools.
Announcing an unpopular decision right before spring break is problematic. Being unwilling–and unable–to explain the data that informed the decision is also troubling. Refusing to consider the science of children and sleep, including studies released in the Newberg schools’ own report just two years ago, makes it difficult to understand why the change needed to be made at all. Except, maybe, for the benefit of Coach Brown.
As we’ve said, the election on May 16 is about transparency and integrity and doing what’s best for students. But like snow falling on the first day of spring break, the decision about start times was not welcomed, not needed, and left huge parts of Newberg feeling left out in the cold.
Newberg Neighbors for a Better Community 