SCHOOL START TIMES

Students need more snoozing Delayed start times would help student’s physical, mental health

Benjamin Grantonic grantben000@hsestudents.org

Sleep is something I do not get a large amount of. 1 get ro]ghly three to fi ^e ho]rs of sleep on weeSnights. This is, Y]ite ob^io]sly, not remotely healthy. The National Sleep Foundation recommends people aged 14-17 get eight to ten hours of sleep per night.

The school board’s current agenda on changing the start time looks to change this low sleep pattern. This means FHS would start at 8:55 a.m. The elementary schools would start at 7:50 a.m. with this plan.

A study performed by The Center for Applied :esearch and -d]cational 1mpro^ement +):-1 at the =ni^ersity of 5innesota entitled, “;chool Start Time Study Preliminary Report of Findings”, looSed into the eff ects of a delayed school start time on both suburban and urban students. The study found that suburban kids generally reported gaining an extra hour of sleep; teachers in both en^ironments reported more attenti^e st]dents d]ring the fi rst two periods. 1t also fo]nd that some students ate breakfast more often.

The most common argument heard against the change in start time is how it wo]ld aff ect sports and other e`trac]rric]lar acti^ities, with many st]dents not wanting to stay into the e^ening for practice and other acti^ities. ?hile resched]ling will be reY]ired, the benefi t of the e`tended sleep would outweigh this.

Another argument is that this would harm the elementary students’ sleep. According to the National Sleep Foundation, elementary aged students will be naturally inclined to go to bed between 8:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m. as opposed to teenagers who ha^e an internal clocS delayed by two hours, leading them to go to sleep at around 11:00 p.m. This means teenagers need the later starting date to remain on a healthy sleeping schedule.

Sleep is one of the most important needs of both children and teenagers, and the latter is not getting nearly enough. According to the Child 5ind 1nstit]te, teenagers who s]ff er from se^ere sleep depri^ation, which is a good amo]nt of them, will lose some abilities of self control, are more likely to engage in drinking and unprotected sex, and are more liSely to de^elop mental illnesses s]ch as depression and anxiety.

This lack of sleep is a symptom of a greater problem within our education system, which is o^erworSing st]dents to the point of b]rno]t. =ntil we can get a better system of teaching our students, shifting the bell schedule may be the short term sol]tion that co]ld alle^iate some of this b]rno]t.

Student responses when asked if they would support a schedule shift Out of 100 students asked on Dec. 2

50% 50%

People in favor of keeping the current 7:35-2:55 day

For Against

People in favor of the shift to the 8:55-3:55 day