Parents give feedback on change for school start times

The Anchorage School District held an open house for parents, students and community members to give feedback on the potential change to ASD's start times.

ASD says the schedule change would start in the 2019-20 school year.

Shannon Bingham who works for Western Demographics, a consulting company working for ASD, says research shows benefits for late start times for high school and middle school students.

"For high school and middle school students, if they start school later, meaning after 8:30, there is significant performance, student wellness and safety issues for those students," said Bingham.

Many parents said they were concerned about childcare for elementary students and safety with an earlier start time for young students because older siblings won't be around any longer to watch younger brothers or sisters.

Bambi Williams, a parent from Anchorage, says she thinks the school start times should stay the same.

"I think that high schoolers need to prepare for life and there is no job that starts at 9:30," said Williams. " You can't just tell your boss you can't start early because you didn't get enough sleep."

A total of eight meetings will be held at different schools across the district, from April 11 to 27. You can view a full schedule for the meetings on ASD’s website,

There is also an option to submitt an online

to provide feedback on school start times.