Adolescent Health and School Start Times: Science, Strategies, Tactics, and Logistics
Second Workshop Added: Nov. 14Based on the overwhelming response to our November 13th workshop (sold out), we offered another workshop on Thursday, November 14th, 2019
from 9:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. at the Clarion Hotel in Exton, Pennsylvania. At both workshops, our expert panelists from the sleep, health, change management, and advocacy communities presented the science of sleep and its connection to school start times, as well as proven strategies for successfully changing bell times. This includes how to generate optimum community support and work through potential implementation challenges such as bus routes, athletic scheduling, and more. |
We appreciate the amazing turnout of attendees for either Day 1 or Day 2 of this implementation workshop. There is still time to take our survey, which will help us plan for future workshops.
This interactive workshop is intended for superintendents, transportation directors, principals, athletic directors, teachers, counselors, nurses, and other school administrators and staff, as well as school board members, parents, guardians, health professionals and other concerned community members. |
New! Educators and other professionals interested in earning Act 48 and/or American Psychological Association continuing education (CE) credits were also able to register to receive 4.0 CE credits, accredited by the Pennsylvania Psychological Association.
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To take advantage of the group rate at the Clarion Hotel for an overnight stay, click the button below:
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Workshop Details:Where:
Clarion Hotel 815 Pottstown Pike Exton, PA 19341 When: Wednesday, November 13, 2019 SOLD OUT! 9:30 am to 3:00 pm or Thursday, November 14, 2019 9:30 am to 3:00 pm |
(Be sure to change the check in and check out dates as needed before reserving!)
Workshop Presenters
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Amy Wolfson, PhD, Professor of Psychology, Loyola University Maryland
November 13 Only Amy has taught undergraduates in sleep and psychology for over 25 years and served as an academic administrator. Her scholarship on sleep and well-being in adolescents and emerging adults has been published in numerous peer-reviewed journals. She is the author of two books, The Woman’s Book of Sleep: A Complete Resource Guide and The Oxford Handbook of Infant, Child, and Adolescent Sleep and Behavior. Funded by the NIH, Wolfson developed the Young Adolescent Sleep-Smart Pacesetter Program. Her current research is focused on several areas including, school start times; caffeine consumption; sleep education for pediatric health care providers; and sleep health in the juvenile justice system. She co-edited a special issue for Sleep Health on Sleep Science and Policy: A Focus on School Start Times and co-authored the 2014 American Academy of Pediatrics Policy Statement supporting healthy school start times. She is currently on the Board of Directors for Start School Later. |
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Indira Gurubhagavatula, MD, MPH, Associate Professor, Division of Sleep Medicine at the Perelman School of Medicine at University of Pennsylvania
November 14 Only Indira is also Director of Penn's Occupational Sleep Medicine program and Director of the Sleep Medicine Fellowship Training program at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. She has also served on the Board of Directors and was past President of the Pennsylvania Sleep Society. She is currently chair of the Public Safety Committee of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, focusing on issues that relate to health policy. Her focus on preventing drowsy-driving related car crashes in teens has led her to her work in school start times, a major contributor to teen sleep deprivation and sleepiness. She has also authored language on teen drivers’ education manuals regarding drowsy driving, and worked to informed senators on the issue of drowsy driving in teens. She has given lectures and chaired prior symposia on School Start Times, including one at the meeting of the Pennsylvania Sleep Society; she has also published editorials on the topic. |
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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. |
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Robert O’Donnell, Ed.D., Superintendent of Schools, State College Area
School District Bob has more than 27 years of experience in public education. Before becoming the Superintendent of Schools of the State College Area School District in 2011, he served as the Assistant Superintendent in the Hempfield School District, Lancaster County, for seven years. While in State College, Bob has helped the district pass the second voter referendum in Pennsylvania ($85 million to support high school project). During Bob’s tenure, he worked with the school community through a multi-year planning process prior to the Board approving the restructuring of student day times. The new school start times were implemented during the 2018-2019 school year. Secondary students begin their day at 8:40 a.m., and elementary students begin at 8:10 a.m. |
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Andrea Mason, MBA, Senior Project Manager, Transpar Associates
Andrea is a Senior Consultant and advisor with TransPar, Inc., who specializes in the execution of K-12 transportation operational assessments, policy and procedure reviews, resource (e.g., staffing) evaluations, safety and risk analyses, and the development of comprehensive management plans. She has managed projects for such clients as the States of Connecticut, Maryland, and Washington; Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools; Atlanta Public Schools; and DeKalb County Public Schools. Andrea is an active participant in the National and Georgia Associations of Public Transportation (NAPT, GAPT) and is often asked to speak to members regarding industry trends and emerging best practices. She, along with her teammates, are involved with the Start School Later (SSL) movement as advocates for proactive change regarding equal access to education. |
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John Sanville, EdD, Superintendent, Unionville-Chadds Ford School District
A Doylestown, Pennsylvania native, John has a wide variety of school-related work experience—starting as a school security officer in Fairfax County Public Schools in Virginia, he then became a teacher, a school counselor, and an assistant principal at a diverse middle school. He and his wife moved back to Pennsylvania where he served as the Assistant Principal at a Delaware County high school. He’s been in Unionville-Chadds Ford (UCF) since 2007. John notes that as Superintendent he is privy to the bigger picture in academics, sports, the arts, and the problems that impact students and their families not only in UCF but throughout Chester County and beyond. And that’s what drew his attention to student wellness and starting school later. UCF voted to start school later in 2017. John currently serves on the Pennsylvania’s Secondary School Start Time Advisory Committee (SR417). |
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Tom Platt, Owner, Decision Support Group
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. |
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Amy Goldman, School Board Member, Radnor Township School District
Amy Goldman is a school board member in the Radnor Township School District, the first school district in Southeastern PA to change its high school start time to the medically recommended 8:30AM starting in the 2019-20 school year. Amy is also a co-founder of the grass roots based Regional Adolescent Sleep Needs Coalition (RASNC) of Southeastern PA. RASNC’s advocacy resulted in the creation and passage of PA Senate Resolution 417 which called for the Joint State Government Commission (JSGC) to produce a PA study on adolescent sleep and its relationship to school start times. Amy is a member of the JSGC’s Advisory Committee that is assisting with the study. A final report will be published in October 2019. |
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Jeff Hellrung, President, Unionville-Chadds Ford School District Board
Jeff and his wife Liz have lived in the Unionville-Chadds Ford district for over 25 years. Jeff is a Navy Captain, a former corporate executive, a former high school math teacher, and is currently enjoying retirement. Their two children received an excellent education in the Unionville-Chadds Ford School District. Jeff launched the Chester County local chapter of Start School Later in 2016, one of the factors that spurred him to serve on the school board. |
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Tim Ammon, Owner, Decision Support Group
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. |
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Terra Ziporyn Snider, PhD, Executive Director, Co-Founder, Start School Later
Terra is an award-winning author of numerous popular health and medical books including The New Harvard Guide to Women’s Health. A Yale graduate and a Searle Fellow at the University of Chicago where she earned a doctorate in the history of science and medicine while conducting research in biopsychology, Terra is a former associate editor at The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) and has written extensively on a wide range of health and medical issues in publications including The Huffington Post, The Harvard Health Letter, JAMA, Consumer Reports, Weight Watchers Magazine, Business Week, and Longevity. |
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Kenneth Batchelor, Superintendent of Schools, Radnor Township School District
Ken has more than 20 years of experience in public education. Before becoming the Superintendent of Schools for the Radnor Township School District, Ken served as the Assistant to the Superintendent in Unionville-Chadds Ford. He has experience as a teacher,coach, advisor, and coordinator and supervisor of the high school gifted program, and as a Legislative Assistant for Congressman Hamilton Fish, Jr. He began his career in Philadelphia and taught in North Carolina before returning to Pennsylvania. Ken was a leader in Unionville-Chadds Ford as that district worked toward shifting bell times. Radnor will be implementing a shift in bell times for the 2019-2020 school year. |
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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) |
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Gail Karafin, EdD, Certified School Psychologist, Bucks County Schools
Gail is a licensed and school certified psychologist with graduate degrees from Temple University. She is in independent practice in Doylestown, Pennsylvania in addition to serving in a Bucks County school district. Her mission is to practice evidenced-based psychology to promote one’s strengths that enable individuals to thrive. Gail also serves as the chapter leader for Start School Later Pennsylvania statewide, and has been instrumental in securing CE credit hours for this workshop and chairing the local planning committee. |
Breakout Sessions
Two afternoon work sessions:
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
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
This workshop made possible with the generous support of our partners:
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What folks are saying about our Connecticut workshop...
“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 |