A local campaign has taken two Mercer Island School Board members to task regarding their advocacy of pushing back high school start times.

Last week, a group of Mercer Island parents debuted the website ‘Listening to Us’ with a message directed to School Board members Dave Myerson and Adair Dingle stating “Dave Myerson and Adair Dingle No Late Start!”

Malcolm McLellan is one of the three parents leading the movement, along with Betsy Robertson and Stacy Bjarnason. McLellan called the group a small sample size of the silent majority frustrated with the School Board, in particular Myerson and Dingle, allegedly not listening to community feedback regarding later start times at the high school.

“The district has it correct right now,” McLellan said of current high school bell times. “There is growing frustration among parents that School Board members, particularly Dave and Adair, asked for input, got the feedback and they’re ignoring it.

“Enough is enough. We’re really trying to get the word out to Dave and to Adair to stop and listen us.”

On its website, the group states that it agrees with the general concept of the American Academy of Pediatrics study, which in 2014 recommended delaying middle school and high school start times to 8:30 a.m. or later, and that more sleep for teenagers is a good idea. The group also argues that “changing school hours does not miraculously change the number of hours students sleep,” and that changing school hours will have a negative effect on several extracurricular areas including programs available at the high school, student activities and enrichment, athletic practice schedules, Title IX opportunities, the instrumental music program and teacher availability after school.

The issue of later start times returned to the board June 9, four months after the district adopted moving from early-release Wednesdays to late-start Wednesdays at the high school for the 2016-17 school year.

“There is disappointment that this issue just keeps coming up when it doesn’t need to,” McLellan said. “Their care and concern is genuine and we appreciate it, but there is a bigger picture out there that they need to keep their eye on.”

Myerson wasn’t aware of the campaign in the days after the website had been created, though he said the sentiment behind the movement didn’t surprise him. He remained steadfast in supporting later start times and the research from the American Academy of Pediatrics surrounding the issue, which also indicated more sleep led to reduced risks in being overweight and suffering depression.

“If you look at the actual data referred to in that report, there’s a large number of benefits,” Myerson said. “[Late start is associated with] better SAT scores, fewer suicides, I don’t think you can just deny the benefits. It addresses the issue of depression among students.”

Dingle said her motivation behind pushing for later start times is to do what’s best for kids and for education. She believes the board should continue discussing the issue.

“We can’t stop discussing what’s best for students simply when we hear from a very passionate but small group of people,” she said. “Several parents have told me privately that they would prefer a late start at the high school but they don’t want to discuss this publicly because their kids are in band and they feel there would be retribution or they don’t want to upset the teachers. There are many reasons why people don’t come and express their opinions and it’s unfortunate. I don’t believe that there is an impasse here that can’t be [resolved].”

Part of the issue is the amount of sleep time students would gain. Mercer Island already begins its school day at 8 a.m. If the high school moved bell times, it would be to 8:30 a.m. for an additional 30 minutes. At the June 9 board meeting, Superintendent Dr. Gary Plano questioned if the return was worth the cost.

Dingle said she would move start times back further if it was feasible, with the hope of it leading to happier, less stressed students who are able to perform more efficiently in school. She noted students can’t absorb material when they’re not fully awake.

“It’s not a bedtime issue, it’s an issue of when adolescents generally sleep,” she said. “It’s an issue of physiology and circadian rhythms and how they respond to it. I see it more as a developmental issue, not a bedtime issue.”

At the June 9 board meeting, Myerson offered a time to meet with community members at Starbucks to discuss the issue, though he said no one showed up. Dingle also said she would prefer to have a discussion on the matter rather than take a “one-way stance.”

“I would be curious as to why there is a reluctance to explore the possibility of change in a more expansive manner,” she said. “In one way, I understand why some people are resistant to change, I have my schedule and I’m comfortable with it. But there is the old Chinese proverb of ‘[Learning] is like rowing upstream, not to move forward is to fall back.’ And I think that’s something in our rapidly changing society that you have to be mindful of.”