At Columbia high school, the day starts at 7:10 in the morning. That is the earliest start time in the Capital Region. 

"There's a concern that our children and their social emotional health as well as their academic could be potentially impacted by the fact that they're not getting enough sleep," said East Greenbush Central School District Superintendent Jeff Simons.

He says over the last year, a committee has been looking to push back that start time. The American Academy of Pediatrics has suggested 8:30 a.m. or later, and a recommendation of eight to 10 hours of sleep for teenagers. 

"I would say my ninth grader is not getting those hours. Her alarm goes off at 5:45 in the morning," said Lauri Marchiony, a parent with three children in the district.

She's also a member of the committee, who are proposing to have high school start at 8:15 a.m. instead of 7:10 a.m., and 8:45 a.m. for Goff Middle School instead of 7:40 a.m.

"Busing is sort of the key to this whole puzzle and figuring it out how to make it work for everyone," Marchiony said.

While teenagers would get to school later, the elementary schools start time would have to be moved up from 9:00 a.m. to 7:30 a.m. The committee says that ensures the district could maintain its three tier bus system with no effect on the budget.

However, a 2:00 p.m. elementary school dismissal does raise some concerns.

"Many families have concerns about whether they'll be able to have after school supervision for their children should we go forward with this particular proposal," Simons said.

For high school and middle school students, a late start also means a later dismissal. That means it could affect extracurricular activities like sports. 

"If we were to do this, I would like to see extracurricular like sports and other activities, before school maybe," senior Ellen Kerber said.

"I feel like it really won't be a meaningful change to do this," senior Jack Ladue said.

Simons says all the input from the community will be weighed before a recommendation is put forth before the board of education. Another community forum is scheduled for Thursday at Goff Middle School.