There is discussion about new school start times for the 2019-2020 school year, and, boy, am I excited! Finally, I might be able to be a morning person–mornings can be the most rushed and nerve racking time. You have to get dressed, eat, make sure you have everything, and get there all in a short period of time. The discussed options for start times for high school are no earlier than 8:30 am.

Studies show that students who get 8.5 to 9 hours of sleep show improvements in physical health, mental health, and academic performance. They show up to class more and have a better quality feeling of life. It has been shown that students getting eight or more hours of sleep have better attendance with later start times. This experiment was done in the 1997-1998 school year in Minneapolis. It showed that kids changed their bedtimes so they could get more sleep when they didn’t have to get up so early.

At the same time, if sports practices are in the morning because the start time is extended, then there isn’t really a point because students will have to wake up at the same time or even earlier. Also, if no one else in our sports league changes their schedule, students would be missing half of the day due to games and events. So, if  you aren’t going to do sports, then there will be no problem. For those who are, you might have to talk to your teachers about times to make up work–a lot.

For me, it isn’t such a big deal because I’m old enough and  independent enough to drive myself to school and get there on time, but for those without that luxury, they may have a difficult time finding transportation that late in the morning because the “morning work rush.”

The proposed time changes are designed with bus transportation in mind. These new schedules give the district time in between pickups and drop offs for different schools. If the district goes through with the changes, virtually everyone who rides the bus will be affected.

Thompson School District has already implemented a change in start times for their schools. High schools now start at 8:30 am and end at 3:50 pm. Middle schools start at 8:45 am and end at 4:00 pm, and elementary schools start at 8:00 am and end at 3:10 pm. It will be interesting to see how this works for them this year.

As I see the potential negative effects of this decision, I have concluded that if it’s just going to make life harder and more stressful for families and students,then there is no point. Is it really worth it for teenagers to get more sleep, but inconvenience everyone else? On the other hand, if they can get a final decision that gets us more sleeping time and works out for all our schedules, then I am all for it.

If you have an opinion and want to be heard on this topic the Poudre School District is running a survey and is hoping to have as much participation as possible: You can take it here.

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/PSDSchoolStartTimeScenarioSurvey

To see more information, check out the Poudre School District website for proposed schedules and other details.