On the 47th parallel there's only 8.5 hours of daylight around the winter solstice so you pretty much have to choose one or the other. My high shcool's first b

On the 47th parallel there's only 8.5 hours of daylight around the winter solstice so you pretty much have to choose one or the other. My high shcool's first bell was at 07:40 PM and final bell was sometime around 2:40 PM, but around 60% of the class did extracurriculars during the week that would get you out at 4-6 PM. As other have pointed out, starting school later (around 8:30-9 AM) would have students coming in after sunrise, but then school would go until ~3:30 PM and you run the risk of all students getting home after dark during December and January.