Reader view: Opposition to proposed elementary school start time changes

I am a parent of two elementary-age children at Westgate Elementary, and I am writing to express my opposition to the Edmonds School District’s proposal to move 12 elementary schools to a 7:20 a.m. start time beginning in the 2027-28 school year.

I support the district’s goal of improving outcomes for high school students through later start times. The research on adolescent sleep is well-established. What I cannot support is a plan that achieves this goal by shifting the burden onto our youngest and most vulnerable learners and their families.

The research does not support a 7:20 a.m. start for elementary students.

The district’s own October 2025 board presentation cited a 2022 AERA study that found earlier elementary start times lead to less sleep for young children. The district characterized the academic impact as “almost no effect,” but less sleep is not no effect. It is a harm. The AAP, CDC, and AASM recommend 9 to 12 hours of sleep for children ages 6 to 12. A 7:20 a.m. start means many children will need to be awake by 6:00 or 6:15 a.m., and earlier for those riding buses. Meeting that sleep threshold would require a kindergartner to be asleep by 6:15 p.m. That is not realistic.

This proposal is a regional outlier.

Elementary schools in Seattle, Everett, Mukilteo, and Shoreline start between 7:55 and 9:15 a.m. and dismiss between 2:25 and 3:35 p.m. None start before 7:55 a.m. or dismiss before 2:25 p.m. The proposed 7:20 a.m. to 1:50 p.m. schedule would make Edmonds an outlier. If no comparable district has determined a 7:20 a.m. elementary start is appropriate, we should ask why Edmonds believes it is.

The equity impact is troubling.

Of the district’s 14 Title I elementary schools, 10 have been assigned to the earliest 7:20 a.m. tier. Only four Title I schools received later start times. Title I schools serve families with higher rates of poverty, families who are more likely to depend on affordable childcare, public transportation, and before- and after-school programs. A 1:50 p.m. dismissal creates an enormous gap between the end of the school day and the end of the workday. After-school care at the YMCA at Westgate runs approximately $5,750 per year. The Boys and Girls Club in Edmonds costs approximately $4,500 per year. These are significant expenses for families who are already stretched thin. Placing the heaviest burden of this schedule change on the district’s most economically vulnerable communities raises serious equity concerns that deserve more than a passing mention in a presentation.

The community has spoken.

The district’s Spring 2025 survey of more than 3,100 respondents revealed what the board report itself described as “widespread opposition to elementary schools starting at 7:20 a.m.” If the community is telling you this is a problem, listen.

What I am asking for.

I am not asking the district to abandon its efforts to support high school students. I am asking for three things: publicly share the data and criteria behind these tier assignments; provide a clear, funded plan for addressing childcare and equity impacts on elementary families; and reconsider whether a 7:20 a.m. start time, one no neighboring district uses, is truly the best we can do for our youngest students.

Our children deserve a solution that does not ask five-year-olds to wake up in the dark so that teenagers can sleep in.

Tom Kozaczynski is an Edmonds resident and Westgate Elementary parent