A big change is coming to the morning routine of thousands of families in San Diego and it's starting this year with attendees of three San Diego Unified schools.
High school start times will shift an hour later for students in the San Diego Unified School District by the start of the 2020/21 through a program called the Healthy Start Initiative.
But three district schools are getting a head start; La Jolla High School the School of Creative and Performing Arts, and Muirlands Middle School will push back school start times from 7:30 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. starting this school year.
The SDUSD Board of Education is expected to announce Friday the next steps to implementing the Healthy Start Times initiative to all district schools.
Start times next year will fall between 8:30 to a 9:05 a.m., according to the district. The board of education says the change can improve test scores, attendance, and graduation rates.
It will be up to each school to implement a plan on what time they'll start school for the day, and each school will determine how they’ll make the transition.
Last May, the district approved coming up with a plan to shift the school start times by an hour, citing that students weren't getting enough sleep and it affected their learning.
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The change upset some parents who say it is already difficult enough to balance their kids' schedules with their own work schedules.
"It's a double-edged sword, parent Sarah Fraedrich told NBC 7 in May. "I get that they're trying to let kids have more sleep, but for working parents, it doesn't work that way. Your kids have to get up and go somewhere before you go to work."
Parents wishing to learn more about the later start times can attend a series of public meetings with school board officials.
The meetings will run 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. on the dates below and will be organized by clusters. [[509126231,C]]
