“When’s Late Start?!?!"

Have you ever shown up to school an hour early, only to find the campus nearly empty? 

That’s the kind of confusion many students experience on late start Mondays. “Late start” is a school day that happens every other Monday, when classes begin at 9:30 am instead of the usual 8:30 am. While the idea is simple, communication about late start days is often unclear.

Many students find late starts difficult to keep track of because our school doesn’t send out enough reminders on a consistent basis; this leads to confusion and mixed messages. Some students, I find, arrive at the regular school time on some Mondays, while others come late, unsure of when class actually starts. Even some staff members seem unaware of when late starts are scheduled. According to one teacher I spoke to, they wait for an email from the person in charge of their department or from administration “because they never really know when it is without the email” (the teacher did not want to be quoted). What this shows is a larger problem with communication across the school community. Clear and consistent updates made online help keep everyone on the same page, and will make school mornings run more smoothly for teachers and students.

A simple solution would be for our school to send out consistent email reminders to our student gmail accounts, or post a reminder on our school’s main website the night before each late start. Our school could also make more consistent announcements on school-run social media pages to make sure everyone gets the message in time.

Better communication about late start days would make the school more efficient and connected. With just a few reminders, students and staff could start their weeks with less confusion and just might get more sleep in the process.