Forum To Discuss School Start Times

CLAWSON, MI — “School Start Times”, a parent/community meeting, will be held Monday, Dec. 4, 2017, at 7 p.m. at the Clawson Middle School Media Center, 150 John M Avenue. Presented by 52-4 District Court Judge Kirsten Nielsen Hartig, the program is free and open to the public and will explore the importance of pushing back school start times as recommended by organizations such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American Academy of Pediatrics.

During puberty adolescents biologically become sleepy later at night and need to sleep later in the morning as a result of shifts in biological rhythms. One of the main reasons adolescents do not get enough sleep is early school start times.

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that middle and high schools start no earlier than 8:30 a.m. But, according to the 2014 School Health Policies and Practices Study, 93% of high schools and 83% of middle schools in the U.S. start before 8:30 a.m.

This combination of factors leads to students being chronically and dangerously under-rested. Chronic sleep deprivation is strongly linked to adolescent depression, being overweight, poor academic performance, use and abuse of drugs and alcohol, suicide and traffic crashes.

Photo by Kelly Teague via Flickr Commons