Sophomore Carly Whay, is a busy student with a full schedule from the time she wakes up until the time she goes to bed.  “I have dance every night so I always stay up late doing homework so I’m pretty tired all the time,” Whay said. “Early releases help with my schedule because I go home and take a nap before dance so I’m not as tired. And late starts I sleep in or get coffee with friends,” Whay said.

This year Parkway Central High School has 4 early releases and 8 late start days. Some students take this extra time off from school to participate in rituals that they enjoy.  Many students use this time to sleep in late, go out for breakfast, or to get some extra study time in for the week.

According to freshman Hayden Christiansen, “Due to my busy schedule with swimming everyday, and now volleyball, it helps with me finishing my homework and releasing my stress and I have time to be social,” Christiansen said. On late start days he catches up on sleep and goes out to breakfast and on early releases he goes out to lunch and hangs out with friends.

On early release days, students can go home and take a nap, get homework done early, or simply hang out with friends. Although our school only has late start once a month, it may help students catch up on missed sleep.  

While students are sleeping in, teachers are waking up at the same time for professional development so they can bring more knowledge to the classroom. Teachers, like art teacher David Jafari meet with other teachers for cooperative learning teams which is a way to get teachers that teach the same subject to work together towards the common goal to make education better.

“Since I’m the only ceramics teacher here, I go meet with other ceramics teachers from Parkway North, Parkway South, and Parkway West. We all talk about different strategies, different projects and different techniques that we just share information to be better teachers,” said Jafari.

Jafari explained that it gives teachers time to work during the day on becoming better teachers and sharing tips and strategies.

“You really get a lot from talking to other people who teach the same thing you do and you gain new insights into what we do on a daily basis,” said Jafari.

Latestarts and early release days can cause confusion regarding the bell schedules. Some late start days include ac lab while others do not.

According to a student poll, the most popular thing on late starts is to sleep in. On early release days, it’s to hang out with friends.

Regardless of the amount of time off and when it occurs, students and teachers alike eagerly anticipate any opportunity for a break in the school routine. This change in the normal schedule allows for something to look forward to each month and for a change in the normal routine.