<p>In our school district, high school classes start at 7:20, elementary at 8:20, then Junior high at 9:20. I am seeing the effects of having to be in up and in class at 7:20 on my teen daughter and some of her friends, and have started reading a bit more about teens and sleep and what a big impact just another hour a night of sleep could have. High school is a time of late night homework and studying, extra curricular activities, sometimes jobs, etc…and, it seems, teens are just wired to stay up a little later and need to sleep in a little more.
My daughter doesn’t usually stay up late, but does often have a hard time falling asleep, leaving her so tired in the morning, and by the end of the week, that lack of sleep can really accumulate.</p>
<p>I’m reading that teens should get 9.25 hours of sleep a night, so, to be at school by 7:20 (say, getting up at 6:30) and get ‘enough’ sleep, teens would need to be in bed, asleep, by 8:45PM…that doesn’t seem like a realistic scenario for most.</p>
<p>What are the school hours in your school district? Have they ever tried to change them? </p>
<p>Nope. And they had the chance when they built a new middle school a few years ago and had to refigure all the bus routes. Parents begged them to change the schedule, but they wouldn’t. Elementary school starts at 8:30; middle school and high school start at 7:30. My 9th-grade daughter has to be at the bus stop at 6:45 am!</p>
<p>High school start time in our district was changed from 7:10 am to 8:30 am in my son’s sophomore year. The next year they changed it right back because of complaints about the lack of time for after school jobs and activities.</p>
<p>My son has to be on the bus stop at 6:45 also. Thankfully, he has an incredible talent, a gift, even, for napping anywhere at any time so the morning and afternoon naps followed by a large snack refresh him greatly.</p>
<p>We homeschool and do take into account the sleep needs of our teens. I think this has been one of the gifts of homeschooling for them. They did not spend their high school years sleep deprived unlike most of their compadres in traditional school. Three of mine have moved on to college and none of them had difficulty adjusting to that schedule (and all had the occasional early morning class to deal with).</p>
<p>When I served on the BOE of our local district, I requested that we study sleep patterns, school start times and districts that made changes. We had many meetings and workshops over a period of 1 year. At the end of the study, our committee recommended an earlier start time for elementary grades and a later start time for middle school and an 8:40am time for HS. All of our schools are centrally located in an education park, so the bus schedules worked well at no added cost. The idea was slammed at a public hearing. Parents were furious that the older students would not be available to get the younger children off the bus in the afternoon, HS students complained that they would not be able to work and the loudest complaints were from coaches, athelets and parents about after school games and travel to games. Very few supported the proposed changes and the board voted to “revisit” the idea in the future.</p>
<p>I don’t believe in changing the world to meet the needs of my kids. I believe in having my kids adapt to their world. I don’t see why having a teen sleep from 8:45 pm. to 6:30 am is any more unreasonable than having them sleep from 10:45pm to 8:30am </p>
<p>Our school system also looked into it and came to the same conclusions as the other posters: most people were against it.</p>
<p>Our elementary schools start first, I think at 7:40, HS 8:10 and Middle school @ 8:50.</p>
<p>I think it is a good compromise. I hated the middle school dismissal time , it seemed so late before the kids were home.- but we only had 2 years of this.</p>
<p>It’s just maddening that what would be best for the kids is overridden by what is most convenient for the adults. Coaches could have morning practice for some things (which would also mean fewer issues with heat stroke), for those who choose to participate, so not everyone has to be on that schedule. Another hour hardly eliminates employment opportunities. We just demand more and more of the kids (Raise those test scores!) but the system doesn’t support the demands. Yes, it is nice to have the teens home before the younger kids, but the schools are for education. Most of our elem schools have after school programs, run by the YMCA…so something like that might be able to be put in place for that issue.</p>
<p>About 9 years ago we switched to starting school at 8:35. It’s a hassle for parents who were used to dropping kids off on the way to work. We dismiss at 3:20. Our K-12 is in one large, divided building so there aren’t bus or getting younger kids off the bus issue. I do think it’s nice they get a little more sleep. I think kids getting out at 3:20 makes more sense than early afternoon. Coaches still find plenty of time for practice. The first kids get on the bus at 7:15.</p>
<p>Our district used the study to the students benefits years ago.
Elementary is 8-2:30.
High School is 8:45 to 3:30.
Middle School is 9:30 to 4:15.
Parents, at first, were against the change, wanting to use the after school, job opportunities, and child care excuses. Everyone has adapted and our district benefited with top rated student test scores. The biggest benefit our kids are not on the highways waiting for buses in the dark.</p>