Editor’s Note: After Joe McShea’s article was published in the previous edition of the Viking, we received a response from Mr. Andrew Macurak, assistant principal. We have reproduced this letter in full here.

To the Editor of the Viking Newspaper:

This letter is in response to Joe McShea’s January articles titled “Why Wednesday Mornings are Actually Bad”.  Let me start off by saying that Mr. McShea’s article was well-researched and well-written.  He made many valid points, but there are some items that I think Mr. McShea and his readers should consider before forming a final opinion.

Mr. McShea begins his article with data from the Sleep Foundation.  I fully acknowledge that teens do not get enough sleep.  There is ample research in the fields of medicine, psychology, and education that shows it may be in the best interest of teenagers to begin, and end, the school day at a later time.  Of course that would lead to problems with transportation, and after school activities and athletics all occurring later in the day as well.  The same Sleep Foundation that Mr. McShea gathered his data from also has an abundance of literature on the effects of blue light emissions on sleep patterns.  I would encourage all readers that are sleep deprived to consider putting down their cell phones earlier to insure stable circadian rhythms.

Mr. McShea acknowledges that the students of Central Catholic have varying commute times because of our student body is made up of young men from over 40 school districts in Western Pennsylvania.  What Mr. McShea probably does not realize is that approximately half of the student body relies on public school district transportation to get to Oakland each morning.  Those school districts determine bus routes and pick up times, and almost all of them transport students to Central for a 7:56 start time regardless of the schedule.

This means that approximately half of the student body is here at 7:45 for a 9:36 delayed start.  What do 400 students do with 90 minutes to kill?  Mr. McShea acknowledges “cheesy potatoes and Juuling in Starbucks.”  I would also add to that list increased theft in the open gym locker room and vandalism of the Bagel Factory.  Additionally, the “Tardy + 20” list of students that are extremely late is often 4x larger on a delayed start Wednesday than it is for a normal school day.

Finally, Mr. McShea notes that teenage stress levels are on the rise, and Wednesday mornings give students a chance to get caught up.  I would argue that for over 80 years Central Catholic students have treated Wednesday mornings like every other day of the week.  The delayed schedule is approximately 7 years old.  If teenage stress levels are on the rise in recent years, and the delayed schedule is relatively new to Central Catholic, I would suggest that it may be the vape juice and cheesy potatoes that are causing the problem.

I would also like to add that the young ladies of Oakland Catholic have always had a normal start time on Wednesday mornings.  To my knowledge, they have never correlated Wednesday start times to the inability to cope with the rigors of high school life.  I would like to think that our 830 young Vikings are every bit as resilient as the young ladies at Oakland Catholic.

Respectfully,

Andrew A. Macurak

Assistant Principal for Student Affairs