You know that feeling when you wake up in the morning and check your phone and see an email: Masconomet Regional High School will have a delayed opening today…and all you can think about is the extra hour and a half you get to sleep. Even knowing that can make such a difference in your mornings and your overall day.
Starting school at 9 AM rather than 7:35 AM would be the best option for not only students, but teachers, parents, and the school system as a whole.
Having a 9 AM-3 PM day would give students enough rest to perform to the best of their abilities. For me, I notice a huge difference in my mood and well-being when I get to sleep in.
According to Harvard’s Division of Sleep and Medicine, “poor or inadequate sleep can cause irritability and stress, while healthy sleep can enhance well-being.”
Why wouldn’t the school committee want this for students? And you may be thinking, “just go to bed earlier,” but with after school sports and homework, this is almost impossible for some kids. If school started at 9 AM, those kids who are able to get to bed early can get even more sleep.
According to a 2018 study in Seattle, “Among students whose start times were delayed, final grades were 4.5 percent higher.”
Not only will students’ well-being be improved, but their academic performance will be as well. This will make Masconomet look better as a school system, and students will be more comfortable in their classes. And yes, some students will use this later start time to just go to bed later and still do bad in school, but most students are already up all night doing homework.
This later start time will not only help students, but teachers as well. Although their after school activities will be pushed back, they will be in better moods, which will improve their health and teaching.
According to the National Library of Medicine, “Teaching is a highly stressful occupation, and compared to the general population, teachers with high job strain have been found to report poorer sleep.”
Running a classroom of loud and energetic high school students is not an easy job. But imagine doing this, but with no sleep. The strain and burnout teachers feel are very closely related to the amount of sleep they get, so let’s improve this.
While this change may interfere with parents’ work schedules, their mornings will still benefit because they won’t have to deal with a grumpy kid who is running on 5 hours of sleep. A survey of Minneapolis parents found that they were having “fewer confrontations” with their children in the morning about getting out of bed and getting to school on time. They also commented that they were having more “actual conversations” with their teenage children in the morning, finding that they had new “connection time” with their child.
The effects of starting school later go much deeper than you would think. Connections grow within families, morning car rides can get just a bit easier, and school becomes a better place.
Everyone benefits from this in some way, and it just makes things easier overall. Life is simpler, mornings are easier, and students are happier. In the end, it just makes everyday life a bit better for everyone.