Rise and shine at a later time?
Los Alamos school board considers whether to give students chance to sleep longer
Students in Los Alamos might get some extra shut-eye if the school district’s board of education approves a proposal to start school later in the morning.
The action comes as sleep experts and pediatricians across the nation tout the need for teens to get more sleep and urge school boards to set start times for school at no earlier than 8:30 a.m.
The Los Alamos school board will review a report on the issue and debate it during a board meeting on Thursday, Nov. 30, in Los Alamos. But the board will not vote to approve any action on the matter until at least Dec. 12, district Superintendent Kurt Steinhaus said Monday.
And the board may just vote to keep things the way they are — with school starting at 8:20 a.m. for elementary school students, 8 a.m. in middle school and 7:50 a.m. for high school students.
“There are pros and cons to any of the options,” Steinhaus said. “That’s why we have invested so much time and community dialogue into the issue.”
The district held two public forums on the question in late October, taking input from about 100 participants, including students, teachers, parents and community members. Among the concerns is how the change would affect both bus transportation and mom and dad dropping kids off at school, as well as participation in after-school activities, such as clubs and athletics.
The district’s report on the issue “noted that students are tired in the morning.” It also says there was “not unequivocal support or opposition from the community forums” regarding the plan. An online survey on the issue drew 116 people who said they were against any such action and 101 who said they were for it.
Los Alamos High School Principal Carter Payne said that in talking with teachers, staff members, students and par-A
ents, opinion is “split.”
“What we are trying to do is honor all the different people in the community who have perspectives … as we work out a solution that has a positive effect on student sleep,” he said.
Los Alamos High School senior Coen Noeninckx said he is all for the change.
“I think the school start time moving back would have a positive influence on many students as well as teachers who have children of their own in the schools,” he said. He added that while some students may not take advantage of such an opportunity, “most will see it as a positive option given to them and get that extra 30 minutes to an hour of sleep.”
Noeninckx said he sometimes notices fellow students falling asleep at their desks either during first period or the period following lunch.
One such student observed napping at his desk on Monday was junior Dustin Bennett, who said he generally does not fall asleep until midnight or 1 a.m. He then wakes up at 6 a.m. to make it to school on time.
“I wish I wouldn’t have to wake up so early,” Bennett said upon awakening from his nap. “I try not to take naps in class. I usually go home after school and take a quick hour or hour-and-ahalf nap before work.”
But there are concerns regarding the proposal. Los Alamos community members involved with the process questioned whether their children would be coming home later on the afternoon bus and whether it might affect afternoon jobs or outdoor sports practices, given that darkness falls around 5 p.m. in the winter months.
Steinhaus said the idea behind the proposal was to promote student health, help children concentrate in school and increase student test scores. The district, which earned an A on its annual report card from the state Public Education Department, generally reports higher academic achievement results than many of the other 88 school districts in the state. This year, for example, Los Alamos High School students boasted the 11th-highest English Language Arts’ test results on the state-wide PARCC exam, with more than 67 percent achieving proficiency or better.
The local debate also comes on the heels of a recent Society of Behavioral Medicine policy report urging school boards to adopt later school-start times for students’ benefits. That report said that while just 15 percent of American schools begin school after 8:30 a.m., evidence shows later start times improve students’ moods and attention spans while decreasing tardiness rates. Academic achievement rates also go up.
The American Academy of Sleep Medicine also advocated for later school start times, saying in an April 2017 report that adolescents and teens need between eight and 10 hours of sleep every night — meaning a teen who goes to bed at 11 p.m. would need to sleep until about 7:30 a.m. the next day to “obtain sufficient sleep.”
That report also says adolescents and teens undergo a physical rhythm change that delays their sleep patterns, making it hard for them to go to sleep before 11 p.m.
Stacy Simera, communications director for Start School Later, a national nonprofit advocating a change in school-start times, said adolescents experience a later shift in their sleep cycle during puberty.
“It’s not that teenagers are not getting sleep because they are choosing to stay up late. It has nothing to do with iPhones or with doing homework,” she said. “For some reason, Mother Nature very uniquely shifts the sweet spot of sleep to later.
“So when somebody says, ‘Just send them to bed earlier,’ that doesn’t cut it. That would be similar to telling an adult, ‘Go to bed at 4 p.m. or 5 p.m. and just adjust your sleep cycle.’ But it’s not that easy,” she added.
One of the school board’s options includes a schedule that would keep the same start time for elementary and middle school, but give the high school the ability to start at 8:35 a.m. Students would be released at the same time in the afternoon — around 3 p.m. — but that would necessitate scheduling changes in classes or lunch during the day.
School start times vary at districts around New Mexico. For example, Albuquerque schools start at 7:25 a.m, and Belen schools begin at 7:15. Santa Fe’s two major high schools begin classes at 8:40 and 8:45 a.m., but these start times do not always include “zero hour,” a period that begins before the official start time and allows for extracurricular or electives, such as band or Junior ROTC programs.
A 2013 Lynch School of Education study out of Boston College said that of some 50 countries, American children suffered the most from sleep deprivation at both the elementary and secondary school level.
Luis Sánchez Saturno contributed to this story.