On early release Fridays, only one thing is of concern for most students of Clayton High School: where to go for lunch once that final bell rings. Early release days, for students, are generally days that are easy going, with minor quizzes scattered throughout, and students excited to get out early at 12:55 p.m. instead of the usual, dreaded 3:05.

On the other hand, during late start Wednesdays, most students do not have a drastic change to their day; however, many find it hard to find a ride to school, especially the elementary students who have to rely on their parents for rides to the Captain, Glenridge, or Meramec elementary schools. Many elementary students arrive at school extremely early and have nothing to do before classes start, which can seem like a drowsy inconvenience due to the fact that parent’s schedules can not adjust to that of the District’s.

However, an underlying argument for pro late start is that students are more inclined to abuse alcohol and drugs after school, especially if the early release is on a Friday. According to certain adults, students are more inclined to doing these things just because they have the time to use drugs or consume alcohol, and early release Fridays seem like a great time to do so.

Furthermore, the majority of people within the District are more for early release. In May of 2015, the Board of Education sent out a survey to the Clayton School District, asking the voluntary participants whether they prefered an early release or late start schedule. The Board deduced that about two-thirds of the District preferred having early release days. This allowed the Board to officially implement an early release schedule, after the successful “trial” 2014-2015 school year.

The most important reason that the School District switched to an early release schedule is for parental convenience. While many students at CHS can drive themselves to school, most of the District cannot. To many parents late start seems to have no use and is even less beneficial for morning routines. Stephanie Abbajay, a Clayton parent, expressed her views on the issues.  “In my opinion, I MUCH prefer the early release to the late start. Late starts seemed to really mess with our days, especially when it came to work schedules. It’s much easier to find child care after an early release than for a late start. ”

Even if a student doesn’t need childcare after school, parents still seem to like early release a bit more regarding time with their families. Alison Hoette, another Clayton parent, says: “I prefer early release days so that I am able to do fun activities with my kids like going to the pumpkin patch, zoo or Magic House on days when they may not be as crowded.”

As well as the convenience to students, the early release schedule is more sensible for Clayton staff. Dr. Sean Doherty, Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources, says: “When [the staff] had their professional development in the morning, they knew that by nine or nine-fifteen they had to stop because students were coming. In the afternoon, often times, it’s a more relaxed feeling.”

Doherty represents most of the staff’s opinion–an overwhelming 64.44% who prefer the early release schedule over the late start schedule. On the other hand, a mere 17.96% prefer late start, and 12.68% have no preference. An almost equivalent amount of staff members prefer the late start as to those who frankly do not care.

With a late start day, however, less time is available for professional development. Chris Tennill, the Chief Communications Officer for the District said, “If we go back to late start, it would be four [days a year] because [the schedule] wouldn’t be the same late start model we had before.” This change would mean that there were less hours of furthering the staff’s  education, and in turn the students’ own education.

Concerning the issues of elementary school students incapable of getting home on early release days, schools around St. Louis have begun interactive programs where younger students can get a ride from SchoolPool, an organization started in 1994 and run by the Madison County Transit in Illinois. This program is setup to provide a free carpool option for students K-12. Although the program is not necessarily well known, it is used in the School District of Clayton and pamphlets can even be found in the front office of the administrative building.

The idea of more partying on early release Fridays is a seemingly clever argument, but it lacks to capture the full picture. For the upperclassmen, parties are a commonplace in weekend activity. This is the culture of not just Clayton High School but of any school with older adolescents. Of course exceptions exist and the frequency of partying can vary, but the main idea is that this is a recurring pattern by students that will happen regardless of school scheduling. Furthermore, the goal of the school is to reprehend actions that go against student safety, and by enforcing a late start schedule to denounce the actions of select part of the population, the school would reject this goal, which is not the image Clayton want to mirror.

It is easy to see that the early release schedule is beneficial to the School District in every aspect: staff, student, and parent, and has not yet failed. At this point in time, no genuine reason for reverting to the late start schedule exists, especially since it would not be implemented until 2017-2018 at the earliest. For now, early release trumps late start, allowing families to benefit from their communities.