Taipei American School (TAS) students started the school day later on Feb. 22 and March 15. Students took their respective second period classes at 9:30 a.m. instead of starting the day with first period classes at 7:45 a.m..Teachers utilized the time to meet with their colleagues and participated in other professional development activities.

The administration implemented three late start days this semester as they wanted to refine course contents and properly articulate the curriculum from one grade to the next to ensure that students are learning effectively. 

“One thing that we struggle to do as a school, because of how complicated things are going on, is to carve out the dedicated time to allow professional collaboration, planning and work to be done by colleagues,” Mr. Andrew Lowman (he/him), the upper school principal, said. 

Mrs. Hway Anichowski (she/her), one of the math teachers, used the morning to collaborate  with other members of the math department, where they discussed teaching methods and came up with potential activities for students. 

“In the math department, we divided into teams, where we looked at the curriculums to determine if any teaching, reviewing and assessing days needed to be shuffled around,” Mrs. Anichowski said. “We’re currently looking at potentially giving students the opportunity to write math reports and to learn how to analyze math.” 

Additionally, Mr. Lowman believes that by starting the school day later, students will be able to absorb more knowledge as they would be able to get more sleep. 

“We’ll lose 15 minutes from each class on [late start days],” he said. “I don’t want to dismiss that as saying it is not significant, but I think that the benefit we’re going to gain is going to be able to have students learn more as they actually get to sleep in the morning.”

Students were excited to gain the opportunity to start school later as they would be able to sleep in more. 

“Having the first period off is a lot more relaxing as I wouldn’t have to panic to get to school or wake up rushing out of the house,” Jerry L. (‘24, he/him), who usually arrives at school later due to a free first period, said.

“As someone entering high school, late start days will be beneficial as I get to sleep in more, which will give me more concentration and more time to finish my homework assignments,” Jaslene H. (‘27, she/her), who will be entering upper school in the fall, said.