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Health & Fitness

PUSH FOR COMMON SENSE SCHOOL START TIMES IS GROWING: Inspired by Research and Success in Other School Districts, Advocates Now Working Together

Advocates in Fairfax, Montgomery and Anne Arundel Counties working together to press officials to provide high school start times better aligned with the health and learning needs of students.

Advocates across the river have created quite a media splash with their petition to have the Montgomery County Board of Education follow in the footsteps of the Fairfax County School Board to set a goal to start high schools after 8:15 AM. Fairfax's goal is to start high schools after 8:00 AM.

SLEEP in Fairfax joined forces with Start School Later (SSL) - Montgomery County and SSL - Anne Arundel County. We are united by a common vision, convinced by the research and success from other school districts, and bouyed by each other's efforts. Now is the time for our counties to make this change. Thus far, more than 20,000 people have signed our respective petitions to voice their support. 

“We all believe this is a critical public health problem. By working together, we can combine volunteer resources to press more effectively for start times that are more appropriate for adolescents,” noted Kari Oakes, PA-C, co-founder of SSL-Anne Arundel and Research Director at SSL, a physician assistant with many years of experience working with adolescents and young adults.

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“Even when I do manage to get my work done early, I just can't close my eyes until 11:30,” wrote a high school student from Annapolis, MD, on the Anne Arundel petition. Some children take melatonin to try fall asleep earlier, but as this student explains, "It doesn't really help. School has stopped being fun and has instead become one the biggest stressors in my life.”

Today’s very early high school start times—7:17, 7:20, and 7:25 a.m., in Anne Arundel, Fairfax, and Montgomery county high schools respectively—necessitate rise times between 5 and 6 a.m., since buses begin picking up students as early as 5:45 a.m. These hours are incompatible with known sleep patterns of teenagers, most of whom need about 9 hours of sleep a night. Physiology limits their ability to fall asleep much before 11 p.m., regardless of homework and extracurricular demands or electronic distractions. Shifted body clocks mean that waking teens at 6 a.m. is like waking adults at 3 a.m. and is akin to shift work.

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“Sleep deprivation, with such health consequences as depression, suicide, car crashes, and increased risk of other injuries, should be treated like hunger,” said Mandi Mader, LCSW-C, founder of SSL Montgomery County.  “We don’t expect children to learn without food and we shouldn’t expect them to learn without sleep.”

“Research is on the side of the advocates,” added Phyllis Payne, MPH, co-founder of SLEEP in Fairfax.  “Numerous studies show that high schoolers with later morning start times not only have improved moods and school performance, but also more sleep each night than those in schools with very early schedules.”

“Cost is an oft-cited reason that school systems use to avoid changing school schedules, but many schools have now returned to more traditional school hours (closer to 8:30 or 9:00 for high schools) without adding buses or increasing the transportation budget.” said Start School Later’s co-director, Terra Ziporyn Snider, PhD, a medical writer and historian. "Creative solutions can be found when schools prioritize health, safety, equity, and learning."

Fairfax community members can show their support by signing SLEEP's petition. The petitions of SSL- Anne Arundel County and SSL - Montgomery County also continue to grow.

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