Public invited to sleep researcher talk

Presentation is part of Phoenixville’s consideration of later school start times

As part of the Phoenixville School District’s investigation of teen sleep and consideration of later school start times, the public is invited to hear sleep expert Wendy Troxel speak on the subject this Tuesday.

Wendy Troxel is a senior behavioral scientist at the RAND Corp. and an adjunct professor in psychiatry and psychology at the University of Pittsburgh. Her work studying behavioral sleep medicine has been funded by the National Institutes of Health and the Department of Defense.

She is also one of the sleep experts featured in the National Geographic documentary “Sleepless in America.”

On Tuesday, March 13, Troxel will speak to the student body in Phoenixville schools during the day and at 7 p.m., the public is invited to hear her address the subject in the high school auditorium in a talk titled “Snooze or Lose.”

Her presentation is part of the school district’s effort to reach out and both educate the community on the science of the matter as it considers changing to later start times, as well as gather feedback from the community on the subject.

On March 5, Phoenixville Schools Superintendent Alan Fegley held the first meeting of his community outreach and education group — about 40 people in all — comprised of students, staff and community residents.

“It went very well,” Fegley said Thursday. “It was our getting to know people meeting, and people on one side of the issue heard things they didn’t know from people on the other side of the issue and vice versa.”

“Now,” said Fegley, “I’ve asked them to go out into the community and let people know what we’re looking at and get feed

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Wendy Troxel