CHS should start an hour or so later than it currently does due to teenager’s needing more sleep because their brains aren’t fully awake 8:00 and 9:00 in the morning. Studies–and more importantly common sense–show that the teen brain is not at full capacity until much later than the 7:40 am CHS start time.  More information on this can be found at http://www.nationwidechildrens.org/sleep-in-adolescents.

Unlike elementary and middle school students, whose brains haven’t developed as much as most high school students, high schoolers need the later start time.  District elementary and middle schools should start earlier because those students don’t need as much sleep due to not having their internal clock being changed by adolescence.

The positive effects of such a change would include better attendance and increased test scores. Some students show up late due to not wanting to–and maybe even not being able to–get up so early. According to the Sleep Foundation, teens have hectic schedules at school between the classes as well as after school activities as well as jobs and homework. When a teenager wakes up early, the teenagers body thinks it’s still the middle of the night due to the lack of sleep and time they can finally go to bed. So when students have to wake up at 5:00-5:30 in the morning to get ready and get to the bus on time, it really cuts into the amount of sleep they really need and get.

In this district, a primary reason that the high school does start so early is because of the amount of buses compared to the amount of schools and students. Having a limited amount of buses really pushes the times that the schools start.

Overall, high schools should start later because students need the time to wake up and for their brains to start to fully wake up for the day. Being in high school isn’t easy with the tests and homework, so having all of them up so early doesn’t help them either. When students lack sleep they won’t focus on anything being taught which will then cause them to fall behind in the work that is assigned. Even though there is lack of money to be spent on more buses, there should be a way to work out getting the start time to be later.