An open letter to the Board of Education, Board of Estimate and Taxation and Representative Town Meeting, submitted by Jim Healy
The health of Greenwich High School students is on a collision course with a 7:45am start time in 2025–2026. If nothing changes, student health will suffer. Every major medical organization agrees on this point.
We may argue about how we got here, but when your house is on fire, the priority is putting out the flames – not arguing over the cause. The BOE, BET, and RTM must now put aside past friction and act swiftly. Student health demands it.
The Problem:
In a May 23rd email to GHS families, GPS Superintendent Dr. Jones confirmed the current plan is to move GHS start times to 7:45am. This is to happen despite overwhelming medical consensus that early start times are among the most harmful changes a community can impose on its high school population.
Dr. Jones explained that although the majority of BET members recently expressed support for additional funds to preserve the 8:30am bell, it came too late for this fiscal year and cannot be addressed until the 2026 fiscal year, which begins on July 1, 2025. Meanwhile, GPS cannot delay critical bus and employment contracts, and other planning necessities, in hopes that funding will eventually materialize. GPS cannot execute a budget “based on hope,” she wrote. That is entirely understandable. On the face of it, the timing conflict looks intractable: The BOE needs funding certainty now, yet the ability to approve the funding must wait until July 1.
The Solution:
Having negotiated timing mismatches like this throughout my career – first at the International Monetary Fund and later in banking – I believe a solution exists: a formal Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) among the BOE, BET, and RTM.
While not legally binding, MOUs are common tools for bridging gaps between commitment and legal execution. They offer good-faith, public assurance that all parties intend to act in a specific, coordinated way. They are reliable because the signatories make clear, unambiguous public representations – and any breach is highly visible and reputationally costly. In my experience, while not legally binding, MOUs have proven to be binding in every other respect in providing virtual certainty.
Here’s what such an MOU could include:
Commitments by Each Governing Body
1. BOE commits to formally request an interim appropriation of $1,957,842 to be effective July 1, 2025, with documents pre-circulated for efficiency.
2. BET commits to hold a special meeting on July 1 to vote on the appropriation and to then immediately forward its decision to the RTM for approval.
3. RTM commits to convene for a vote as close as possible to July 1, and ideally on July 1.
These high-priority special meetings presumably can be done virtually and should be coordinated and brief. July 1 is a Tuesday – this is manageable. It could all be done on that day.
Representations Included in the MOU:
1. High Confidence in Approval: Signatories affirm they have consulted with their members and are highly confident in passage. This should be easy: 9 of 12 BET members, all BOE members, and a large RTM majority have already voiced support.
2. Commitment to Expedite: Signatories agree to move quickly, with all steps completed by July 3 at the latest.
3. Acknowledgment of Reliance: Each party acknowledges that the Greenwich Public Schools will be relying on these commitments as it prepares for the next school year. Reneging on these commitments would have serious logistical and financial consequences.
Community Transparency:
The MOU should be released immediately to the public and the press (Greenwich Time, Greenwich Free Press, etc.) so that the community understands what is at stake – and who is responsible if a commitment is broken.
The public will know:
• If the BOE fails to request the appropriation;
• If the BET fails to schedule a vote or to vote as promised on the appropriation; and
• If the RTM fails to schedule a vote or to vote as promised on the appropriation.
Basically, the MOU puts all the organizations in a position to back up what they have recently been saying publicly. In the parlance of poker games: “Put up or shut up.”
Drafting the MOU:
The MOU should be a clean, focused document, free of any editorializing or distractions that could derail the process. I have included a skeletal first draft at the end of this letter.
But none of this happens without the first move: The BOE must first indicate it is willing to pursue an interim appropriation on the condition that the MOU is signed.
Once that happens, the baton passes to the BET and RTM to agree to an MOU. Leaders from each body – ideally those who already support the appropriation – should then take responsibility for drafting and signing the MOU and coordinating their members. This can be done very quickly as the MOU document should be straightforward and short.
Addressing GPS Staff Concerns:
The decision to remain at the 8:30am bell time may disappoint some GHS teachers who prefer earlier start times and an earlier dismissal. This was noted by the GEA representative at the May 15th BOE meeting. But the BOE has consistently prioritized student health, and now is no time to waver. The Hippocratic principle still holds: First, do no harm.
Conclusion:
If the BOE, BET, and RTM allow this timing mismatch to derail later start times, it would be an embarrassing and avoidable failure – a self-inflicted wound. All governing bodies claim to support student health and 8:30am starts. The question now is whether they’ll act on it.
An MOU signed within days would give GPS the confidence to proceed to maintain the 8:30am start time without legal risk or logistical chaos. There is nothing in the Town Charter that prohibits an MOU. It is not a legally binding contract – it is a mutual public expression of intent.
If the BOE moves swiftly to ask for an MOU, there is no need to rush ahead to work on implementing an earlier start time when a solution may be days away and within its grasp. Once the MOU is signed, the BOE should be able to confidently plan on keeping the 8:30am GHS start time because the funding will be there in early July.
The solution requires trust. Right now, that may be in short supply – but a clear, public MOU can address the trust problem. And the stakes couldn’t be higher. This is a question of foundational health, science, and doing right by our students.
The clock is ticking. The BOE must now take the next step and invite the BET and RTM to sign the MOU. This is no time for “coulda, woulda, shoulda.” It’s time to act.
DRAFT Memorandum of Understanding among BOE, BET and RTM
This Memorandum of Understanding (Memorandum) among the Board of Education (BOE), the Board of Estimate and Taxation (BET), and the Representative Town Committee (RTM) does hereby resolve that:
Whereas the U.S medical establishment, including the American Medical Association, the CDC, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Sleep Foundation, and the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, strongly recommend that, as a matter of public health policy, high schools should not start earlier than 8:30am in order to protect adolescent health from the highly detrimental impact of chronic sleep deprivation;
Whereas, the RTM, BOE, and BET wholeheartedly wish to preserve an 8:30am start time for GHS so that it aligns and complies with the medically recommended start time of 8:30, thereby helping protect the health of the entire GHS student body;
Whereas an Interim Appropriation of $1,957,842 would allow the BOE to maintain the 8:30 am start time for GHS in fiscal year 2026;
The parties to this Memorandum hereby state the following intentions, without reservation, to be done on, or as soon as possible after, the July 1, 2025 start of fiscal year 2026:
1. The BOE intends, without reservation, to hold a Special Meeting to approve a formal request for an Interim Appropriation of $1,957,842 that will be expressly used to cover the expenses necessary for GHS to continue with an 8:30am start time; This request will be submitted to the BET for consideration on July 1, 2025;
2. The BET intends, without reservation, upon receiving the above request from the BOE for this earmarked interim appropriation, to hold a Special Meeting on July 1, or as soon as possible thereafter, to approve the requested interim appropriation in full;
3. The RTM intends, without reservation, to hold a Special Meeting, on July 1, or as soon as possible thereafter, to give final approval for the full Interim Appropriation.
In signing this Memorandum, each of the BOE, BET, and RTM authorized signatories represents:
That said signatory has consulted with the voting members of their organization and is highly confident that his/her organization will vote in favor of the Interim Appropriation;
That said signatory understands the urgency and importance of fulfilling the intended actions stated above and will try, in good faith, to expedite the process so that all three steps can be completed no later than July 3rd, 2025;
That said signatory understands that the intentions stated above, while not legally binding, may be relied upon in good faith by the BOE and the Administration of GHS in school bus planning and scheduling for school year 2025/2026 and that there may be material adverse financial and logistical consequences if any of the three parties to this Memorandum fails to carry out the above stated intentions.
The parties to this Memorandum hereby authorize the immediate release of this Memorandum to local media, including the Greenwich Free Press and the Greenwich Time so that the community is aware of it and can make plans accordingly.
BET Authorized Signatory Date
BOE Authorized Signatory Date
RTM Authorized Signatory Date