Derry Township School District is offering a School Start Time Community Forum on March 25, 2020 in the Hershey High School Large Group Instruction (LGI) Room. 

The meeting is due to Derry Township planning to implement a change in their school start times. The proposed start times are 8:00am to 2:40pm for the elementary school and 8:30am to 3:30pm for the middle and high school. 

A steering committee, including parents, community representatives, teachers, and administration have come together to discuss the change in schedule. 

According to a press release on the Derry Township School Website, “The steering committee has examined impacts to matters like transportation, athletics and extracurricular activities, food service and other district operations.” 

At the presentation, Superintendent Joe McFarland will share the steering committee’s research and an update on the plans to improve the school start times. Also to support the steering committee’s findings, a professor of psychology at Loyola University, Dr. Amy Wolfson, will share her research on adolescent’s need for sleep. 

In addition to the forum, during a school board meeting in April, the members will vote upon the change of school times.

All community members are welcome to attend the forum, but pre-registration is highly encouraged. If you pre-register by March 18, you will be able to submit a question for discussion during the meeting.