There’s an important vote in Fairfax County, Virginia, tonight:
RESOLUTION ON THE GOAL OF THE FAIRFAX COUNTY SCHOOL BOARD
TO START HIGH SCHOOLS AFTER 8 A.M. AND TO DIRECT THE SUPERINTENDENT TO IDENTIFY AND REPORT ON SCHOOL DIVISIONS WITH LATER STARTING HIGH SCHOOLS
The resolution goes on to say that because of the science and the understanding we have about teen sleep needs and how a healthy sleep schedule impacts health and the ability to learn, the Fairfax County School Board will study the successful approaches of other school districts that have changed to a later start time “including, but not limited to: Arlington County and Loudoun County, VA; Minneapolis, MN; Wilton, CT; and Brevard, FL.”
Since I wrote about later school start times two weeks ago, we’ve been seeing some exciting developments in districts around the country. Start School Later will be watching and continuing to track the resolution in Fairfax and the following:
- The Decatur School Board in Decatur, GA, voted this week for the high school back to 8:30 a.m. after the school board moved the high school start time to 8 a.m. last year and parents complained their students had a hard time concentrating in class. One of the district’s solutions to keeping bus costs minimal is that middle school and high school students will ride buses together next year.
- In Barrington, RI, the School Committee’s Health and Wellness Committee, which supports changing the school start times, has posted a survey, designed to gather “personal perspective on how these changes might impact you and what factors you think should be the most important in the decision-making process.” The survey, posted on the School Board website, is based on one used at Harvard and in Fairfax, VA.
- Lafayette Parish School Superintendent Dr. Pat Cooper, in Louisiana, wants school start times to change. Middle school, high school, and Pre-K would start at 8:30 and end at 3:30. Elementary would run from 8 to 3. The board will vote at their next meeting.
- On a trial basis, upperclassmen in Dearborn, MI, will be given the option of starting school an hour later, at 8:25 am.
Sandy Evans, elected to the Fairfax County school board in 2010, and her colleague Dan Storck, drafted the resolution. Phyllis Payne, Co-Founder of SLEEP (Start Later for Excellence in Education Proposal) with Ms. Evans, says the resolution and its goals are a step in the right direction.
“Hopefully, we can apply some of the ideas from other districts here in Fairfax to identify the best solutions to provide healthy school schedules for all students (K-12) while maintaining after-school activities and sports and resolving any other scheduling conflicts that arise when one changes school schedules,” said Ms. Payne.
Fairfax County Stats according to the public school system website.
194 schools
Population 1,015,302
More than 1,520 buses carry 110,000 students each day.
Approximately 1 in 6 residents is a public school student.
For more information on school start time proposals and changes across the country, please visit www.StartSchoolLater.net or link: http://www.startschoollater.net/start-time-activity-by-state.html
Three studies, conducted in 2007, 2008 and 2009, found that students got more sleep because they went to bed at or near the same time each night and were able to rise later with the later school start times. Full citations and a discussion of this topic are available at http://schoolstarttime.org/delaying-school-start-times/will-students-squander-opportunity-extra-sleep/. The landmark Wahlstrom reference study also cites similar findings from the earliest study of later school start times. http://www.startschoollater.net/myths-and-misconceptions.html
Hardly any of us were up and out of the house as early as this generation is -- the early mornings that we all remember probably had us out of bed at 7, or 6:30 if we had a really early bus. Earliest bus times in this country are now well before 6 a.m., so many teens have to be up by 5. Kids in Maryland can't be at work before 7 am if they are under 16 -- it's considered to put their health and safety at risk. These school schedules are doing the same, and they need to stop.
Right now, these start times (much earlier than they were for most of us) are for convenience and economy, NOT for health and achievement.
We have comments from the Harvard School of Public Health that 100 years ago most schools started at 9:00 (all ages), and the Brookings Institute report that said that until a few decades ago very few started before 8:30. Our goal to move high school start times to 8:00 at the earliest seems pretty reasonable given that human physiology hasn't changed (presumably) but our understanding of it has. The science is overwhelmingly in favor of a later start for teens. We all have so many different memories of what time we got up for school, what time class started. Please comment about what you remember. Also, since not all schools in Montgomery start at the same time - I'd like to know what time your local school starts now.
I continue to maintain that this huge jump in technology that we have seen in the last ten years has led to this "too sleepy": syndrome. In our day the last time that we talked to or saw our classmates is when we left school. These days kids text, skype, talk on the phone, Twitter Facebook, etc, etc, all night long. Just because you don't think your kid doesn't does not mean they don't. My mother tells us that we went to bed at 9:30. What high school kid goes to bed at 9:30 these days? No one. Why? They are distracted by all of these gadgets and don't want to be the uncool one the next morning who does not know the latest gossip. By the way all county high schools start and dismiss at the same time.