Students at most schools in the Qualicum School District will start classes a bit later starting this fall.
The Board of Education approved a motion for later start times at elementary schools and high schools, with Errington Elementary School and Nanoose Bay Elementary School seeing the biggest change at approximately 20 minutes each.
Beginning this fall, both schools will start at 8:30 a.m.
Superintendent Peter Jory said improving equity between school start times was part of the reason for the change, with some students in rural areas being picked up by the bus prior to 7 a.m.
"There is considerable research in support of sleep and of course we all know that early mornings can be very challenging for families,” Jory said during the board's April 22 meeting. “This isn’t about us trying to be leaders in this endeavour, it’s about us actually trying to catch up a little bit.”
His report noted that the "vast majority" of school start times across B.C. fall into the 8:30 a.m to 9 a.m. timeframe, with 9 a.m. seen as ideal.
Ballenas Secondary School and Kwalikum Secondary School will each have their start times pushed forward to 8:50 a.m.
Students at Arrowview Elementary School, École Oceanside Elementary School, Qualicum Beach Elementary School and Springwood Elementary School will also see their start times pushed forward slightly.
No changes are planned for Bowser Elementary School and False Bay School, which already start relatively late at 8:54 a.m. and 9 a.m., respectively.
In 2024, the school district received approximately 2,000 responses from parents and caregivers to a survey, as well as feedback from student focus groups. In March of that year, the board voted against a proposal by Jory that would have seen school start times moved forward 10 minutes across the board.
Board trustees at the time mentioned they would prefer a schedule change that focused on the schools with early start times, rather than change for all.
Now that the transportation department is more familiar with the new bussing software, they have been able to put forward a new set of route times that adjust the two early schools up to 8:30 a.m., Jory said.
The board voted unanimously to approve Jory's motion.
“There may be some real bumps and hiccups when we do do this, but if we don’t do it, we don’t know what those bumps and hiccups are and we won’t know how to address them,” said Trustee Julie Austin.
