Declaration Project

My school’s starting time of 8 a.m. everyday is too early. Students need more time to sleep, so they shouldn’t have to wake up so early. Students are showing up to school tired and sometimes even falling asleep in class. This lack of sleep is causing students to focus less and causing them to do poorly in their classes.

Allowing students to get more rest by having a later school starting time would be a crucial step towards improving the education of high school students. As stated in an article in the Wall Street Journal, research indicates that later school start times show a result in students having improved physical and mental health, and sometimes better student performance.

Also stated in the same article is a quote by Dr. Owens: “Circadian rhythms dictate that most teenagers can’t fall asleep much before 11 p.m.,” The recommended amount of sleep for high school students is 9 hours a night. Simple math will tell you that this means they should be waking up at 8am, however 8 am is actually the average starting time for schools.

This means that students are not getting the required amount of sleep they need. There needs to be a petition sent to the school district board requesting a later start time for schools. Allowing students to get there needed sleep, would result in higher student productivity.  

— Caleb Jones, Harwood Union High School,  Moretown, Vermont