NH senators hear sponsor’s case for study committee on school start times

Representative Jonah O'Ryan Wheeler, prime sponsor of House Bill 184, told the Senate Education Committee that parents in his towns raised concerns about how early children are required to begin school and how that affects learning and daytime alertness. "A group of parents in my town came to me to discuss the issue of school start times in New Hampshire," Wheeler said, describing his decision to seek a statewide study committee rather than a statewide mandate.

"I came down on the side of, I think, a study committee, a statewide chartered study committee to find out what implementation of this policy would look like at either a local or a state level," Wheeler said, noting some districts across the state already have changed start times and that busing…