Last night the Centennial School Board approved school start times to be pushed half an hour later in all Centennial schools.

Starting next year school will start at 8:10 am instead of the 7:40 am start time that has been in place for decades. High School Principal Mairi Scott-Aguirre said the decision was made in the best interest of students and to reflect the voice of students, staff and parents.

This idea was originally proposed in June 2018 by the Student Advisory Team, which consists of approximately 35 students from grades 7 through 12, to the Centennial School Board to consider the possibility of changing school start times.

After this, the Centennial School District created a School Start Time Committee, facilitated by Kristen Miles of OSBA, and they analyzed data and information regarding this proposal.

A school survey was open from Nov. 15 to January 15; overall 1000 took part of the survey, and 62 percent of participants chose the option of moving the school start times. A community meeting was then held on Dec. 3 to discuss possible options.

“The district collected a survey, and there were three proposed start times,” said Assistant Principal Terrance Schloth.

The Centennial School Board also held a session on Feb. 13 to discuss survey results and weigh the pros and cons of each start time choice.

The survey ended up supporting the change.

“The survey came in favor,” said Scott-Aguirre.

“I’m very pleased. It was important to me,” stated Scott-Aguirre.