By Owen Boss
Staff Writer
NORTHAMPTON — The four-year discussion surrounding a proposed later start time at Northampton High School will last at least another month.
After hearing from a handful of residents and two students who supported bumping back the beginning of the NHS school day from 7:30 to 8 a.m., School Committee members decided Thursday to revisit the notion at their next full board meeting on Jan. 14.
After spending more than an hour discussing the educational benefits associated with the switch and whether or not it would be a financial possibility, members tabled the decision and requested that business manager Susan Wright bring a cost estimate prepared earlier this year to the committee's next meeting.
The consensus among committee members, it seemed, was that while they unanimously agreed with research showing an additional half-hour of sleep would increase academic performance among high school students, none could offer an answer for how to fund the additional buses needed to accommodate the change.
"There is no way to argue against the research," said Vice Chairwoman Stephanie Pick, adding, "it just makes me really nervous thinking about voting on something without knowing exactly how it will work into our budget."
Sharing Pick's viewpoint was Mayor Clare Higgins, who said she wished the high school's start time could be pushed back to 8:30 a.m. but cautioned members about a 2011 budget year that is expected to be among the worst in recent history.
The report Wright will bring to the committee's next meeting, she said, is available on the school system's website: http://www.nps.northampton.ma.us.
Although progress stalled on a decision about when to start the school day, committee members passed a motion Thursday night changing this year's NHS graduation date from Saturday, June 4, to Sunday, June 5, at 3 p.m. in order to avoid a conflict with the track and field state championship.
Owen Boss can be reached at oboss@gazettenet.com.
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