Adolescent Health and School Start Times: Science and Strategies

We held an inspiring half-day workshop on October 16, 2018 covering the science of sleep and school start times and strategies for handling bus routes, athletics, and other potential implementation challenges. 

We were able to waive registration fees for this workshop thanks to the generous support of our sponsors. The workshop is intended for Superintendents of Schools, Transportation Directors, Board of Education members, school administrators, teachers and other school staff, athletic directors, parents, and other concerned community members.

Workshop attendees can access presentations from the workshop here (requires login).

What folks are saying....

“It was inspirational to see how strong leaders who care about kids can make things happen.” - Survey feedback

“The information provided was excellent and choice of presenters also excellent. Thank you!” - Survey feedback

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Workshop Details:

Where:
​Trinity College
300 Summit Street 
Hartford, CT 06106 

When: October 16, 2018 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.

Printable workshop details

Workshop Presenters

Judith Owens, MD, MPH 
Director Center for Pediatric Sleep Disorders and Professor of Neurology 
Harvard Medical School
Judith is an internationally-recognized authority on pediatric sleep and the author of over 150 original research and review articles in peer-review journals, chapters, and books on the topic.  She was the lead author of the 2014 American Academy of Pediatrics Policy Statement supporting healthy school start times and is on the Board of Start School Later.

Jose Libano, Ed.D. 
Principal, Sharon High School, Sharon, MA
In advance of the 2010-2011 school year, Dr. Libano addressed the teenage sleep crisis by helping guide his school community through a transition to a later start time. Sharon HS shifted from a 7:25 am start to an 8:05 am start and has never looked back.  Dr. Libano will shed some light on overcoming the logistical challenges that school districts face when making a time shift that research says is in the best interest of student learning and teenage health.  Dr. Libano is beginning his 13th year as the principal of Sharon HS.  His undergraduate and graduate degrees are from Providence College.  He earned a doctorate from Boston College in 2012.

Tom Platt, President, School Bus Consultants
Tom and his organization have worked on school transportation logistics with clients ranging from state and regional education agencies, to large and small school districts across 41 of the United States and three Canadian provinces. Their work covers all aspects of school bus routing efficiency, operations management, and system design and reengineering. Tom has authored numerous articles, and presented at national conferences on a wide range of subjects related to school transportation logistics. He holds an undergraduate degree in transportation and a Master of Business Administration degree (MBA) in transportation, distribution, and operations management from the Whitman School of Management at Syracuse University.

Tim Ammon, Chief of Business Development, School Bus Consultants
Tim has worked on the issue of bell times and transportation impacts for more than a decade. He has worked with school districts across North America to assess the operational, fiscal, and educational impacts of revisions to bell schedules. He also has expertise in technology implementation and policy and procedure development and has focused on providing professional development for industry professionals on a wide range of topics including performance measurement, cost control, and operations management. Tim is a member of the Transportation Committee for the Association of School Business Officials, International and earned an undergraduate degree in History and Education from Salisbury University and a Master of Public Administration from American University.

Brooks Brenkus, Managing Director, School Bus Consultants
Over his 20 years plus career Brooks has assisted school districts, government, and commercial clients with strategy analyses, transportation assessments, and technology requirement, design and implementation.  Brooks is also a former Transportation as an Officer in the U.S Army were he was awarded a Bronze Star medal for successfully leading complex logistical operations during the start of the Iraqi invasion in 2003.  Brooks holds an undergraduate degree in Psychology and Sociology from Salisbury University, and a Master of Business Administration degree (MBA) from the University of Maryland University College (UMUC)

Phyllis Payne, MPH
Implementation Director, Start School Later
​Phyllis is a Health Educator and Science Writer with extensive experience in community health education and outreach. Phyllis is a co-founder of SLEEP in Fairfax, the advocacy group that successfully ushered in healthy school start times in Fairfax County, VA. As a contributor and editor for the American Institues for Research, Phyllis worked with the National Heart Lung and Blood Institutes' "Health Topics" - an online health resource for patients, caregivers, and the public. Phyllis also served as a health educator, program planner and Interim Associate Director of the National Kidney Disease Education Program. 

Terra Ziporyn Snider, PhD
Executive Director, Co-Founder, Start School Later
Terra is an award-winning author of numerous popular health and medical books. A Yale graduate and a Searle Fellow at the University of Chicago, Terra earned a doctorate in the history of science and medicine while conducting research in biopsychology. A former associate editor at The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), Terra has also written extensively on a wide range of health and medical issues in The Huffington Post​, The Harvard Health Letter, JAMA, Consumer Reports, Weight Watchers Magazine, Business Week, and Longevity among others.  

Breakout Sessions

Two Breakout sessions were offered:

Overcoming Challenges to Bell Time Change: Effective Change Management and Creative Solutions
​​​For School Superintendents and Central Administrators

​Lobbying, Leadership, and Communication Strategies
For Parents, Community Advocates, School Staff, School Board Members, and Legislators

The workshop was a resounding success: 

• 120 people attended the meeting from
• 8 different states: Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New York, Maryland, Maine, and Virginia
• 76 people came from 28 different towns in Connecticut

Attendees self-identified* in the following manner:

• 16 superintendents from 4 different states
• 20 board of education members from 4 different states
• 28 central staff members, including transportation department leaders and principals
• 30 parents
• 12 health professionals
• 17 concerned citizens

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* more than one option could be selected

This workshop made possible with the generous support of our partners

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