On January 15, 2019, we started a two week ThoughtExchange in which we asked our students and the adult members of our school community the following question.
What are some important ideas for us to consider as we discuss the possibility of changing our school start and end times?
Here are links to the results of our student exchange and of our adult exchange. Thank you to the 504 students and 322 adults from our Springville Griffith-Institute school community who shared your thoughts on this topic and then rated the thoughts of others! I hope you’ll take the time to really read through the many pages of top thoughts.
As indicated in the original question that I posed, the SGI Board of Education members are beginning to discuss the possibility of changing start times and your ideas will be carefully considered. The passion with which people answered the question at times, not only on the Exchange but also on social media, was really interesting to me. There were many comments which I read and thought, “why are you so angry? We’re asking for your ideas before even moving forward with a discussion so that everyone can be included. It’s far from a done deal.”
Please realize, we asked a question and invited you to weigh in. That’s a good thing–that we’re asking for and considering everyone’s ideas. If we wanted to just make the decision without caring about the ideas of our families and employees, we could have done so. BUT WE DIDN’T DO THAT and that’s not who we are as a leadership team. It’s so important, especially now with the onslaught of information from countless sources online, to read carefully and to consider what’s really being said in any article. How many people jumped right to the ThoughtExchange without even considering the introduction? In the introduction I wrote,
We need to hear from you before we move forward with these discussions. How would this change impact your learning, your schedule and your family life?
Our board is meeting in the next couple of months to discuss this topic further and the feedback you provide in this Thoughtexchange with help inform that conversation as well as our final decision. Please take a few minutes to share what is important to you and rate the thoughts of others.
SGI has an incredibly thoughtful, caring, bright and child centered Board of Education and Administrative Team. As with every decision, we’ll take our time to carefully consider every aspect of any change.
Thank you for participating! I look forward to hearing from you again.
Thank you for sharing this information. I feel as if there are a lot of negative complaints without offering other possible solutions. Rather than nixing an idea, how about there is a conversation about alternative ideas? For example, can we begin all students k-12 at 8 am and have a release time of 2 pm? The HS/MS students can get more time in the morning to rest, it would not drastically affect sports or other afterschool activities but is less of a change for all to handle. Just an idea! I think I did post this idea on the thought exchange, but it must have not been well liked. Thank you for allowing everyone the opportunity to have input on such topics. This really shows SGI’s heart and how the administration and board value the communities input.