Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Good idea, Tallahassee: Universal school start times
Early to bed and early to rise, “makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise,” Ben Franklin told us.
An adult, maybe. A teenager? No. Certainly not healthy or wise.
The scientific evidence is conclusive. Nature sets the body clocks of adolescents to later hours than their elders can comfortably live by. They often can’t fall asleep before 11 p.m. and need to get up later to do well in school.
That’s why the American Academy of Pediatrics has recommended for years that middle and high schools begin their days no earlier than 8:30 a.m.
But it’s a hard sell for local school boards, which let bus schedules outweigh what would be the best hours for their high school students. Elementary school kids usually get later hours while high schoolers get stuck with the earliest.
In Florida, according to a legislative staff report, 48% of high schools start before 7:30 a.m. and another 28% before 8:30. Fewer than a fourth respect doctors’ advice by starting classes later.
In Broward, elementary school openings range from 7:30 to 9:30 a.m., with most starting around 8. Middle schools range from 7:45 to 9:30, with most opening between 9 and 9:30. Most high schools begin their day at 7:40 a.m., although Coconut Creek begins at 6:50 and Nova opens at 9:25.
That means a lot of teaching is lost on students slumped over their desks or staring blankly ahead, and more so after Daylight Saving Time kicks in.
But there’s good news from Tallahassee about this. Legislation pending in both houses (House Bill 733, SB 1112) would prohibit public high schools from starting before 8:30 a.m. Middle schools could not begin before 8 a.m., although most of Florida’s now begin at least half an hour later.
The speaker’s priority
It’s a priority of Speaker Paul Renner, R-Palm Coast, who stressed it in his opening-day remarks to the House, and a subcommittee swiftly approved it.
“Quality sleep is also critical to children’s learning and mental health, so we will pursue appropriate school start times as a zero-cost way to improve both academic scores and mental well-being,” Renner said.
Although the Legislature meddles too much in local government, this preemption is proper because most school boards stubbornly refuse to adjust the hours as they know they should.
The legislation allows the counties until 2026 to comply — in other words, two more school years to let the bus schedules be the tail that wags the dog.
If schools need more buses and drivers, the Legislature should help. There’s money to spare. Some parents may need help with child care expenses. The Legislature should help them, too.
What it should not do is let irrelevant objections scuttle the bill. By that we mean the fast-food industry’s appetite for teenage workers as early in the day as they can get them.
Drop DST, finally
While we’re on the subject of sleep, on the federal level, Florida’s senior senator, Marco Rubio, is once again trying to make it worse for everybody. He’s reintroduced his bill to make Daylight Saving Time yearround. Rep. Vern Buchanan, R-Sarasota, has filed it in the House.
Rubio is right in one sense. The semi-annual, highly disruptive time change makes no sense, especially not in the absence of any evidence that DST has any economic benefits except to big-box retailers. He should propose year-round standard time instead.
Research has shown a 24% higher risk of heart attacks in the week after the spring shift, an 8% increase in strokes, and 6% more auto accidents.
DST is particularly hard on adolescents. As explained in a 2022 Atlantic article, “The darker it is in the morning and the sunnier it is later in the day, the harder it is for them to get to bed on time. The result is shortened sleep, an increase in accidents and a higher risk of depression.
“Modern-day adolescents are already the most sleep-deprived population in human history. By their senior year, highschool kids on average are getting six and a half hours a night, when they should be getting eight to 10. Teen sleep has been on the decline for decades, and now, one in five teens sleeps five or fewer hours a night. There is a notion that teenagers can get by skimping on sleep, but it turns out the opposite is true: Sleep becomes more vital in the teen years as kids go through drastic developmental changes in the brain and body.”
Teenage depression is a major national health problem, with tragic consequences.
What they say about “a good night’s sleep” is true. It’s long past time for the school schedules to recognize that, and to revert to standard time year-round.
The Sun Sentinel Editorial Board consists of Editorial Page Editor Steve Bousquet, Deputy Editorial Page Editor Dan Sweeney and Editor-in-Chief Julie Anderson. Editorials are the opinion of the Board and written by one of its members or a designee. To contact us, email at letters@sun-sentinel.com.