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Student Safety Becomes Part of Debate on Later School Start Times
W
hen U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan shared his opinion about the benefits of later high-school start times last fall, he brought national attention to the growing movement pushing for this change as a way to improve teens’ health and
academic success. He tweeted his support, saying it was common sense to “let teens sleep more, start school later.” “To function at their most alert levels and to maintain the healthiest possible lifestyles, adolescents need more sleep, and early start times at schools interfere with their natural circadian rhythms, making it almost impossible for them to get the rest they need,” Duncan then stated in a Washington Post editorial. Terra Ziporyn Snider, Ph.D., a spokeswoman for Start School
Later, told STN the health and safety of high school students is at the forefront of the organization’s mission. Tied to teenagers’ phys- ical health are additional safety risks that arise when young people must head to bus stops and schools in the dark predawn hours. “Not only is it dangerous for sleep-deprived teens to be waiting
on street corners before dawn … or walking and waiting on winding roads, often with no sidewalks or shoulders, but we’re putting some very young and inexperienced drivers out on the roads all day long, many of them sleep-deprived,” said Snider.
She added that car-crash rates go down when schools move their
start times later. Tis is one reason why her organization is supporting Florida House Bill 67 that would prohibit high schools from starting any earlier than 8 a.m. Bill sponsor Matt Gaetz said he has science on his side and referred to studies indicating teenage brains have a difficult time going to sleep before midnight, and the related sleep deprivation causes various mental and physical health problems. Tese studies also led Education Secretary Duncan to endorse later high-school start times.
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