Teens need about nine hours of sleep per night for good health, focus, energy and academic performance — but on average, middle and high school students in Fairfax County are getting seven hours a sleep of night or less.
The results of the county's recent Youth Risk Survey indicate to founders and members of the advocacy group Start Later for Excellence in Education Proposal (SLEEP) that while they've made progress in teaching parents and students about the importance of the issue, a sleep deficit still exists for many students, they said.
"Different children have different needs, but all children need sleep," wrote Phyllis Payne, who started SLEEP along with Evans in 2004, in an email to school board members last month.
At noon Friday, join School Board Member Sandy Evans (Mason) and Payne to talk about the history of the local and national movement, and other strategies the school board is exploring to give students more flexibility over their school day.
Friday also falls toward the end of National Sleep Awareness Week, an annual public education and awareness campaign run by the National Sleep Foundation.
In the past 14 years, two Fairfax County Public Schools Task Forces found in 1998 and 2008 respectively, that moving the county's high school start times to later in the day would benefit students and the larger community, and recommended the school system find a way to do so.
Out of those task forces came a cost-neutral plan to push back start times, which the board considered in 2009. But the concerns from other parts of the community about schedule changes being too disruptive mad the board pause — it didn't move forward with a decision.
"In my view, dealing with unhealthy high school start times remains a priority for teen health, wellness and performance and must be addressed," Evans said.
She introduced an idea at a board work session last month that would allow teens to opt out of their first classes and begin school at the start of the second period, if they could make up the credit in other ways, via online courses or dual enrolment at a community college.
But "the larger issue affecting tens of thousands of teen students remains," Evans said.
Fairfax SLEEP joined other sleep movements across the country in signing a petition promoting legislation that would ban schools from starting before 8 a.m. The petition is looking for 7,500 signatures before it is sent to Congress and President Barack Obama; as of Wednesday night, it had 5,071.
Join us at noon Friday for a live chat about the issue; revisit this page or sign up for an email reminder in the box above. Can't make the chat? Leave questions in the comments or sent them to erica.hendry at patch.com.
To read more on the sleep issue, click here.
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With buses picking students up as early as 5:45, and classes starting at 7:20, students would have to be in bed and asleep as early as 8:30 or 9:00 p.m. to get the sleep their bodies and brains require at this age. Children need both good sleep hygiene and a school schedule that is in sync with their body clocks. Even with the best routine and personal discipline, many students this age are still deprived of sleep because of the conflict between the very early school start time and their bodies' naturally shifted sleep clock. Our school system should be working with the biology of the student learners rather than against it.
Of course, the kids would like to go later. So would I. However, there are so many variables that go into these decisions. After school activities--including jobs. Caring for younger siblings--many of our poorer working families depend on their high school students being at home to look after the younger kids who get home later. Switching the schedule would make this more difficult. Traffic issues enter into this, as well. Science and biology may support a change, but I think that can be trumped with a change in habits and parenting as Mr. Glass suggested.
In jurisdictions where the time was changed to an hour or so later, teens are still hired for jobs (businesses align their schedules with school schedules). Sports and other extracurriculars are also thriving in systems with an hour or so later start time. Whether Loudoun or Arlington, whether the system is similar in size to FCPS or smaller. Regarding child care, this is an issue that has been addressed in other systems, too.With enough lead time to adjust for a change in school schedules, families find alternatives (as they do when children move from K to ES to MS to high). There has been a concern regarding the fairness to students who do not have access to a ride to school in the morning, so as to not have to take the early morning bus. My schedule allowed for me to drive my teen to school and thus allowed her to get an extra 30 minutes of early morning sleep (bus arrives at 6:10). And I made sure she was in bed, with no electronics, by 10 or 11.
Proponents of a healthy start time for teens are just as adamantly in support of healthy and safe start times for elementary and middle school children as they are for teens. Other school systems of all shapes and sizes have been able to schedule the bus routes so as to accommodate extracurricular activities and family time. Unfortunately, the survey you cite cannot be used as a measure of community sentiment about the overall start time issue, as people weren't asked their opinion of 7:20 am start times for high schools nor whether they would prefer high schools to start closer to 8 or 8:30 am. The public's opinion was only sought for Iteration 3 "overall" as compared to the current schedule. (The introduction to the survey stated: "We want to know your reaction to the Proposed Bell Schedule Iteration #3.") This wasn’t a survey about later high school start times. It was instead a survey about an FCPS staff-designed plan (Iteration 3). Iteration 3 had problems and so did the sports schedule that was associated with Iteration 3. Fairfax County residents rejected the staff draft Iteration 3 bell schedule--NOT later start times for high schools--largely because of radical shifts slated for elementary and middle school schedules. Many of those ES times were significantly changed in fall 2009 anyway, despite FCPS saying these parents are happy with the previous ES start times.
Elementary kids can go to SAC or daycare before school starts--that is not an option for middle and high school. Frankly, I think what we have works--thirty or forty minutes later would be okay, but shifting the whole system, it seems to have a lot of gaps. I guess I was raised where people went to work early and got home before six. Most people i know now go to work well before nine--most are at work before eight. I understand the desire, but this is one of those issues I think should be tabled.
Couldn't agree more. My son is up at 5:45 every morning and standing on a darkened street corner in the winter. It isn't safe, first off...and it isn't right. We have been in other shool districts, as military, and this is the first time we have seriously had an issue with getting the sleep they need. People need to realize that teen bodies need extra sleep...no, not military enlisted and college students...young teens that are growing at crazy rates and having hormone issues. It has also been studied and documented that people of this age are mor inclined to sleep later and stay up later. Not by choice, but by the way heir programmed. My daughter, who is in elementary school gets up way earlier and would have no problem getting on the bus earlier. The need isn't there for the hours or he sleep time. There is still plenty of time for extracurriculars....maybe people need to weed down how many their in. There is a lot of opportunity here, but with that should come choices, ot a have to do everything attitude. Kids are overworked, overburdened, and pushed way too much to do too much all at once ....itis insane. Thanks for the stats and the input....totally agree! This needs to be fixed!
Thank you for being a teacher! Over worked and under paid... I sub in our school district and see what ur saying first hand. I have a fifth grader who would be perfectly fine going to school earlier. Sometimes she is up before I am. And by 2 pm it is over. It would be perfect for them to switch this around. No cost issues and the kids would be healthier. Think of all the kids that are sick all the time...then compare that with immune systems relying on lack of sleep.
On their own...no, they can't all go on their own. My son is in high school...he is only 14. How do you propose he gets there? We have had issues of regular homework, never mind extra credit, that required us to spend money and go somewhere. That is rediculous in and of itself. But to go alone...no.
You said it all beautifully!
You might want to check out a forum held last week at the Harvard School of Public Health in which the panelists concurred about the need to start high schools later. Here's what Dr. Charles Czeisler, Chief, a sleep specialist and professor of medicine at Harvard, had to say there about times of schools 100 years ago specifically:
"...100 years ago he said, 'We should never change to the system where we have our kids starting school at 7:30 in the morning like they do in Germany and England, because it’s going to degrade their ability to learn in school.' Well here we are, 100 years later. We have the kids starting at 7:30, seven o’clock in some places, in the morning. If they’re being bused from afar, they may be getting up at five o’clock in the morning. And our kids have lost...two hours less sleep per night on school nights,,, than they did when Professor Terman did those studies. And I think these increased risks of diabetes and obesity and so on, I think are directly linked to that loss of sleep in kids."
I doubt there were many bus runs 100 years ago.-in fact, I doubt there were any. I'm pretty sure that all schools in a system would have started at the same time. Also, 100 years ago, many rural students were up before dawn doing farm chores before they went to school. If you do some research into this, I think you will find it. I do know from letters he wrote while away at school, that my husband's grandfather -as a teenager--started school at daylight. He also wrote about getting up earlier to study as the days got longer in the Spring. Daylight was a premium in those days. Lighting was expensive. I would guess that led to early start times. Think about it. This is not rocket science. I taught school in a system many years ago that experimented with switching the elementary and high schools. We only did it for one year. I taught first grade and 7 a.m. was found to be way too early for the little ones. Going to bus stops at dark was unacceptable. Walking to school in the dark was unacceptable for small children. Also, in my family, my husband went to work early (before my children were up) and came home after six. If my small children had to go to school before eight, they would have had to go to bed right after their dad got home. Not good. My high school kids did fine with it. Science may disagree, but there are many things that can be done to adjust. Read the post by Mr. Glass.
For the health and safety of OUR children - we can't let this matter drop. I agree with Laurie, we can't put our heads in the sand and expect things to change. There are currently many laws and regulations in place in schools that focus on health and safety. These exist for a reason - to protect OUR nation's children and ensure public health. To name just a few: School immunization laws, physical activity requirements, hazardous transportation laws for schools, laws prohibiting tobacco use on school property, pesticide application laws, Federal nutrition standards for school meals, Federally mandated school wellness policies, Federal gun free schools / zero tolerance..... Someday, I hope things will change and schools will no longer start at ridiculous early hours. It sounds like there are some very intelligent people on this thread. I hope we can make a difference.