• Online Petition for Maplewood Secondary Families: Start time 2025-2026 Academic Year

    Please sign this petition to reduce stress and anxiety for you and your child, and allow your child sufficient sleep, improve their mental health, and to have enough time to eat a healthy, nutritious breakfast every school day.

  • Dear Parent/Guardian of Maplewood S.S. students:

    As a new secondary school, Maplewood is still "finding its feet" and establishing roots in the Fernbank Crossing / Blackstone community of Stittsville. During its first inaugural academic year, many elements of the school's construction, administration and operations, are still rolling out. As such, now is the ideal time to express your views on whether or not you and your child/children who presently attend or will be attending Maplewood, would like more time in the mornings to get ready and eat a proper breakfast before sending or bringing your student(s) to school every morning. The current start time of 8:00 AM is simply not a healthy or reasonable start time for many families, and compromises the student's physical and mental health. The current early start time means your child is getting less sleep and has a harder time waking up. As a result, many families are not able to feed their children as full and nutritious a breakfast as they would like to, due to the mad rush to get to school on time. FACT: pre-teen and adolescent students that consistently sleep at least 9 hours every night, and consistently eat a balanced nutritious breakfast every morning, have better mental health, and can focus and learn better and achieve better marks in school. 

    https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3737458/#:~:text=Increased%20frequency%20of%20habitual%20breakfast,positively%20related%20to%20school%20performance

    "The American Academy of Pediatrics has recommended that middle and high schools should begin no earlier than 8:30 a.m. to adequately satisfy the sleep needs of students".

    https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/wellness-and-prevention/teenagers-and-sleep-how-much-sleep-is-enough#:~:text=So%20how%20much%20sleep%20is,Start%20the%20day%20in%20sunshine

    https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7177233/

    This petition is seeking Ottawa Carleton District School Board (OCDSB) approval to begin 2025-2026 Maplewood classes at earliest 8:30 AM or at latest 9:00 AM beginning September, 2025. 

    If you would like to support this petition, please indicate in the comment box below: 1) the grade in which your child or children will be attending Maplewood S.S. in September, 2025; and 2) your ideal class start time between 8:30 and 9:00, and then provide your signature. Note: you are not required to identify your name or e-mail address. Indicating this information is voluntary.

    Thank you for supporting the physical and mental health of Maplewood students, community and their Families! 

     

    Parent of Maplewood Student

    Fernbank Crossing

    Stittsville, ON

    January, 2025.

  • Should be Empty: