Many upperclassmen walked in the doors of Milford High school on the first day of school to realize they were either late or only had a couple of minutes to put their stuff away and make it to class on time.

 Starting this year, Milford High school’s start and end times changed by three minutes.

Instead of going from 7:19a.m-2:03p.m, MHS now starts at 7:16a.m and ends at 2 p.m.

Not surprisingly, the change did not affect the incoming freshman at all.

 “I had no idea our school started earlier until you told me. I Thought that was just the time Milford high school has always started,” MHS Freshman Ellie Naughton said.

The time change may not have affected the freshman but to students who drive like juniors and seniors the three extra minutes meant timing out your drive to school differently.

Some students didn’t even realize there was a time change until they were in class. “When I heard the bell ring to let us out of class I looked at the clock and was confused about why we were getting out at that time, why did they even change it?” said Shayna Joyner a Milford High school senior.

Vice principal Mr.Dziobak said the time was changed upon request of Huron Valley Transportation. Due to recent budget cuts the bus drivers needed a more efficient way of transporting students to their schools. This year drivers will have 200 runs that make 2,390 stops for up to 8,218 students and travel 3,956 miles each morning.

 Scheduling bus times is a huge and overwhelming process.

In 2011, H.V.S. closed a middle school which resulted in re-defined attendance areas. During the 2011-2012 school years, the transportation dept. and school buildings determined that more time was needed between pickups in order for students to arrive to school on time without increasing the number of bus routes. By making the times even numbers, it made it a lot easier to divide up time to pick students up and drop off students.

Sticking with high school tradition, Milford High school is unfortunate enough to stay the earliest starting school in the district, but we also have the earliest dismissal time in the district.

Lakeland now has the same start and end time as Milford.

But an early start time comes with disadvantages. According to a study in North Carolina that examined how start times affect the performance of High school students on standardized tests, delaying school start times by one hour, from roughly 7:30 to 8:30, increases standardized test scores by at least 2 percentile points in math and 1 percentile point in reading.

The effect is largest for students with below-average test scores, suggesting that later start times would narrow gaps in student achievement. Other High school studies show schools that start at 9 a.m. or later have better overall test grades.

Early start times might make it easier for bus routes and make more time for jobs, sports and homework but in the end it might sacrifice student learning.