School Start Times May Be Getting Later

The alarm next to every student’s bed ticks down the minutes until the most dreaded moment in any teenager’s day. The abrupt, almost torturous – wake up. High schools have started at an earlier time than elementary and middle schools for a while now – and it may be changing.

The school district has been considering changing school start time from 7:45 to 8:30 (with a couple of other optional times included) because scientific studies have shown that teenagers need more sleep than other age groups. The district has sent out surveys to assess what the general population thinks, taking steps to see if this is something that’s even possible.

For some, it’s an easy decision. Later school times would mean more sleep, but there are also some problems associated with that, which are unavoidable.

Extracircular activities, such as sports teams, clubs, or programs such as Pep Club and Cheer that meet after school would be pushed back, their ending times affected, giving students less time for homework and other things. It’s not only the after-school programs that would be affected however. Bus schedules, for example, would be thrown completely out of whack.

“It would completely throw off my whole schedule,” Bruce Grable, Highland math teacher said, “It would kill early morning math.” Early morning math, or ‘period zero’ is a class that starts at 6:45, before school starts. It would make it harder for Grable to fit this class into his schedule otherwise.

Of course, there are some who are in support of later start times.

“It would be better if high school students started later,” student Rachel Watters said, “because we don’t use our brains until ten o’clock anyways.” There are certainly pros to the situation such as, less sleeping in class, increased attentiveness, a safer commute to kids who are walking or driving in the dark, and various other things that would be beneficial to the learning experience as a whole.

It’s an issue that is not easily addressed either way, with pros and cons on both sides. The surveys that were sent out in the last couple weeks are merely collecting opinions. No changes have been made yet, but the topic is definitely in question.