Students in the Sto-Rox School District will report to school at different times next year.
The school day at the Sto-Rox Primary Center will start at 8:10 a.m. and end at 2:40 p.m., about an hour earlier from this year’s school day.
The Upper Elementary School will start at 8 a.m. next year and end at 2:30 p.m., about 15 minutes earlier from this year’s school day.
The Jr.-Sr. High School will start about an hour later next year, with the school day beginning at 8:20 a.m. and ending at 2:50 p.m.
District spokeswoman Lydia Richardson said the changes were made with student safety as the top priority.
“Previous start times, particularly at the high school level, required students to travel to school before daylight, especially during the winter months,” Richardson said. “The new start and end times ensure students are traveling to and from school during safer, more visible hours and align more closely with neighboring school districts.”
Sto-Rox is the latest Pittsburgh-area school district to implement later start times for high school students, with most citing studies that recommended teenagers start school later to improve their sleep and health or the opportunity for staff planning times.
Valley Jr.-Sr. High School in New Kensington pushed its start time this school year back a half-hour, to 7:50 a.m. High schools in the Pittsburgh Public Schools district begin the day at 7:40 a.m., a 35-minute pushback made effective in the 2023-24 school year.
Sto-Rox also approved start and finish times for teachers’ schedules next year.
Primary Center teachers will work from 7:20 a.m. to 2:50 p.m.; Upper Elementary teachers from 7:10 a.m. to 2:40 p.m.; and Jr.-Sr. High School teachers from 7:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Richardson said adjustments to the teacher report times create “more opportunities for staff to collaborate before and after school.”
