For years, schools have started at around 8 a.m.  However, many feel like this time is too early for students to get the proper rest they need.  Should schools start later, such as 9 a.m.?  While an extra hour of sleep could help, it’s hard to imagine that this shift in everyone’s schedule will be without issue.

Millions of families have difficulty fitting school into their morning schedules.  With a change in start time, not only would everyone’s morning schedule be different, but many families would be unable to drop off their children at school before work.  Many parents have to get to work by 9 a.m., making 8 a.m. the ideal start time for schools.  A change would put parents at risk for being late for work and potentially receiving consequences for that.  

“I think that changing the start time would be too hard for parents.  I think school starting times are already at a good time, so changing the time would be hard for kids and parents because it would change their routine.  Also, if working parents had to go in later, they could get fired, or have to work later than usual, so I think school starting time is fine where it is,” said freshman Steven Theodoropoulos.

The main argument that schools should start later is because students need more sleep.  However, waking up at 7 a.m. to go to school shouldn’t be an issue if you can get to bed by 11 p.m. to get at least eight hours of sleep.  However, many students find this hard to do as a result of  busy schedules.  Schools may have to implement a more efficient school day to cope with this issue, but starting school later only pushes everything else back, not solving the issue at all.  If school starts later, naturally every event of the day is going to start later, forcing students to go to bed even later than with the current schedule.

“I would not be able to do everything I usually do after school because I run cross country and track, and since school would be later, so would practice, and then I would be home later and then I’d have to eat dinner and do homework so I wouldn’t be able to do other things I’d usually do.  Besides, with all this, it wouldn’t fix the sleep problem that it’s trying so hard to fix,” said freshman Harrison Maute.

Most students actively participate in events after school and thus have a routine to handle every hour of the day.  With a new start time, students would have to push back their after school activities as well, and may not be able to leave school before dinner time.  This would create an even more rigid schedule than what students face today.  Additionally, many students who take part in sports won’t be able to get enough daylight to complete their practice.

“I feel like with a change like this, there’s a chance that I won’t be able to play as much tennis after school with less daylight hours.  Also, my whole after school schedule in general could be affected negatively due to less afternoon.  I’m more productive after school so the lost time could really hurt,” said freshman Harrison Roth.

Helping students reach their full potential with the right amount of sleep is top priority, but the current start time for schools is a key piece in ensuring that mornings for families run smoothly.  There are too many factors that you simply cannot alter, along with school. Moreover, not only does a later start time force families into juggling multiple schedules in the morning, but it also forces a longer schedule for students after school.  It is important to come up with a system that can fix more problems than it causes, but at the moment, the current start time is ideal with extracurricular activities.