WINDHAM -- Students at Windham High School can sleep in an extra 24 minutes this fall, after School Board members approved a much debated start-time delay. The 24-minute delay, which means school will run from 7:48 a.m. to 2:17 p.m., was first proposed this spring and has been the subject of several School Board meetings over the past few months.

Advocates of the plan point to extensive research on the health benefits of more sleep for teenagers. But some parents have said a schedule change would be too much for students already adjusting to a new school and that the delay could cause timing problems for those who travel to Salem High School for career technical education, or CTE, courses.

In a workshop meeting in May, incoming Windham High School Principal Tom Murphy said he wanted more time to pull together a scheduling proposal and suggested pushing the delay back a year. But Murphy presented School Board members with a new start-time delay proposal on July 26, which also incorporated a 1-minute increase in passing periods, added 4 minutes to lunch blocks and shaved 5 minutes from regular classes to accommodate those changes.

Murphy said the new proposal would cause less class disruption for CTE students than if the district continued with its current schedule. But some residents speaking at the July 26 meeting said they felt misled.

“I ask that you honor what was said at the workshop and give it a year,” said resident Mabel Brown, addressing the board. “That is what was said to the people, that is what was published, that is what we were told, and that is what we were led to believe.”

School Board member John Hollinger echoed Brown’s sentiment, saying he had a similar impression of the May meeting.

“I certainly left with the perspective that what we were saying publicly to the community was that we had a year for the community to wrap their head around it,” he said. “Now with about a month or so before school starts, we’re saying we’re going to do it now. It doesn’t feel like what we originally agreed to.”

But the other board members in attendance said they were pleased with the way the new proposal brought together adjustments to passing periods, lunch times and the start time, and voted 3-1 to approve the change.

“Based on what I’m seeing here, I think it’s better for the research, CTE courses, sleeping and lunch,” said Chairman Bruce Anderson.

Hollinger voted against the measure and Vice Chairman Ed Gallagher was not present at the meeting.

Murphy said the school building would still open at 7 a.m. this year to allow families time to adjust their own routines for the change.