This school year, Poudre School district made the decision to change start and end times for high schools, middle schools, and elementary schools. Instead of beginning from 7:25-8:15 a.m., high schools will now begin at 9 a.m. This pushes back the high school end time to 4 pm. The change comes after concerns from parents that high school students do not get enough sleep due to late extracurricular activities and early start times. Teenagers require about 9 hours of sleep. However, many do not achieve this due to the early start times. This lack of sleep results in serious health concerns, including depression, problems regulating mood, and even suicidal thoughts.
Although delaying school start times may allow students more sleep, not everyone is on board with the decision. One major concern is the problem later start times will pose on bus schedules, after-school activities, and sporting events. Students would get home from extra-curricular activities much later in the evening. Therefore, this change may result in students staying up even later in order to complete homework, or simply because they know they do not have to wake up as early in the mornings. Additionally, a later start may negatively impact childcare options for some families who rely on their high school student to watch their younger children after school. However, child-care options such as BASE camp are working with school districts to revise their programs to accommodate changing start and end times.
As of now, there is not a lot of data to determine whether later start times have any effect on the academic performance of students. Furthermore, it is difficult to measure the impact this change will have on students as each individual’s situation is unique. It may be found that the only way to test whether this is the best option is through trial and error.
~Katie~
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