BOSTON (WHDH) – Parents of Boston Public Schools students packed a meeting Wednesday night to explain to city leaders why they are against changing start and end times for the next school year.
This comes after the school committee unanimously decided last week to change both the start and end times for elementary through high school. The policy says most students from grades seven through 12 will start classes after 8 a.m. and most elementary schools will be dismissed before 4 p.m.
Meredith Markle, a mother of three from West Roxbury, said her 8-year-old daughter has cystic fibrosis and has to do medical treatments at a specific time each morning.
“Instead of being able to play with friends after school, she’ll be doing her breathing treatments,” said Markle. “It will not only affect my daughter medically but it will also affect our entire family.”
Yajaira Rodriguez said she will have to wake her family up at 4 a.m. so she can get everyone ready for school on-time.
“They are already tired as the schedule is now, and even earlier, their school performance is not gonna be as good as it is now,” said Rodriguez.
Boston Public Schools Superintendent Tommy Chang was greeted with boos from many parents as he spoke. He defended the change, saying research shows teenagers perform better academically when they can sleep in longer. He said another issue was to decrease transportation costs and that changes were approved based on both community input and research from MIT.
Parents are asking the committee to look at the plan again and make some changes.
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