Majority at Barrington 220 town-hall meeting want to change start times

Members of the Barrington Area Unit School District 220 community again showed a preference for changing start times at district schools at the first of two town-hall-style Board of Education meetings at Lagendorf Park Tuesday morning.

After around two hours of discussing the pros and cons of each of the three options, the crowd of around 40 members of the community voted overwhelmingly in favor of start time options A and C. No one voted in favor of maintaining the status quo.

The crowd, mostly mothers of district students, voted by writing down their preferred option and why onto a sticky note and affixing it to that option's corresponding board. There were only two notes on the board for Option B. One of the notes said they preferred the plan because it was a good compromise and it was cost-effective. The other note said that Option B was an "absolute last choice," and that it didn't meet the minimum sleep requirements.

The results are similar to the results of the recent community survey on start times, the results of which were released last week. In the survey, Options A and C got around 63.4 percent of the vote while Option B received 36.5 percent. Those interested can see the survey results, as well as a detailed 34-page memo about them, at the district's website, barrington220.org.

Teresa Jennings, the executive director of the Barrington Park District, said Option A's later release time for middle school students could create major scheduling problems with the district's teen-focused programming. One program she said would be affected was Ski Club, which buses middle school students to ski slopes after school a few Fridays per year. Jennings expressed a preference for Option C.

District mother Rachel Tuerck said she came to the meeting with Option C as her preferred choice but throughout the course of the discussion changed her mind to Option A because it best aligns the schedule with when each level of student learns best.

While there were disagreements among attendees on which option was best, the tone of the discourse remained civil.

The second community meeting is set for 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 13, at Barrington High School. Depending on how many people attend, it will either be held in the Guided Resource Center, the usual board meeting place or in the cafeteria, which is where the board held its first start times meetings in the spring that were attended by hundreds of community members.

The board is expected to choose a start-time option on Nov. 1.