Students at Seneca Valley have already provided anecdotal evidence to support the district's decision to make start times for the 2018-19 school year.

JACKSON TWP — This year, Seneca Valley School District students got to start sleeping in a little more.

Now, halfway through the academic year, qualitative evidence to support the change has been pouring in.

“We have some anecdotals but haven't pulled all the data yet,” said Tracy Vitale, district superintendent.

Vitale said the district needs to wait an entire year to compile statistics on the differences in attendance, tardiness and classroom engagement. The 2018-19 school year is the first that the adjusted starting time has been used.

She said they would have a better idea of areas of improvement in May.

“For now, we're getting very good feedback,” she said.

The decision to delay the start time came over the course of 10 years' worth of research, with the past five years providing the most meaningful data to back the switch, Vitale said.

The district approved pushing back the start time by 35 minutes in April 2018.

This is an excerpt — read the full article in the education section of Tuesday's Butler along with other local education-focused news.