With clocks rolling back this weekend, how will schools and students roll? As national debate continues regarding whether daylight saving time should last year round, education stakeholders who talked with K-12 Dive said they don't spend much time dwelling on the issue.
"There's no hindrance in the sense of scheduling" when the clocks change, said Joseph Ricca, superintendent of White Plains Public Schools in New York.
Maria Vazquez, superintendent of Orange County Public Schools in Florida, said that while the school system communicates upcoming time changes with its community, "It's something that we're accustomed to. We have been doing it for years, and so it's not a huge issue for us."
Proponents of a year-round move to daylight saving time, rather than only from the second Sunday in March through the first Sunday in November, say the change could reduce car accidents involving pedestrians.
Supporters of a permanent switch to standard time — observed currently from November to March in most of the country — also cite children's safety and health as benefits of the move.
Ricca and Scott Muri, superintendent of Ector County Independent School District in Texas, said the biggest advantage for the November change from daylight saving to standard time is that sunrise comes an hour earlier when clocks "fall back," making it safer for students walking and taking the bus to schools.
"The greatest benefit for us relates to the safety of our students riding the bus," Muri said in an email. "The change in time allows for more daylight in the morning hours so that students can walk safely to bus stops."
Without the switch to standard time, waiting for the bus in White Plains would be both dark and cold in the winter, Ricca added. "Trying to get as much daylight both at the beginning of the day and at the end of the day, it's always advantageous for us."
In Orange County, having the sunshine out as high schoolers walk or ride the bus to schools would be optimal as some high schools start the school day at 7:30 a.m. or earlier, Vazquez said.
Some research studies and educators say the clock switching is just downright confusing, and that a move to permanent daylight saving time would undo the advantages of having later school start times for adolescents so they could get more sleep in the morning.
Meanwhile, as arguments for and against daylight saving time continue to circulate and the country makes the twice-annual change of the clocks, teachers continue to weave the practice of switching the clocks into math, history and social studies lessons.
A search for "daylight saving time" on Teachers Pay Teachers, a website for teachers to exchange instructional materials and tools, yielded 907 results as of Nov. 3.
Scott Muri is now superintendent emeritus of Ector County Independent School District.
