Time for schools to have later starts

The movement to later school start times planted three years ago in Chester County by an intermediate unit student study has continued to gain traction, culminating last week with a report supporting the change as a means to address a “public health crisis of epidemic proportions.”

The report summarizes a study conducted by a special Pennsylvania Joint State Government Commission advisory committee. The study states that sleep deprivation among adolescents adversely affects academic performance, attendance and lateness, risk of motor vehicle accidents, athletic injuries and overall student safety.

Delaying secondary school start times “has the greatest potential to impact large numbers of students at the same time,” the report states, and has been endorsed by the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Medical Association.

The ideal start time for secondary school students — grades six through 12 — is 8:30 a.m. or later, according to the study, and a review of the 500 districts in Pennsylvania reveals that the majority of districts begin the school day between 7:30 and 7:59 a.m.

The committee found that at least 25 of Pennsylvania’s 500 school districts delayed their secondary school start times between 2011 and 2019, at least 28 were publicly engaged in researching the matter and at least 15 more were having informal discussions at the administrative level about the possibility of delaying school start times.

Among those that have made the switch are Phoenixville Area, Unionville-Chadds Ford, Tredyffrin-Easttown and Radnor districts. The Owen J. Roberts School District has been discussing a start times change for at least three years and held a public meeting last Thursday to review findings.

State Sen. Andy Dinniman of Chester County sponsored the authorization of the study by the state Senate Education Committee, on which he holds the Minority Chair post.

Dinniman said the report looked at the Chester County districts where change has been implemented and found that it’s working well.

Chester County has been at the center of this debate since 2016 when an intermediate unit student forum took on an analysis of school start times and sleep deprivation as a project after seeing a televised news report on the issue. The IU student study recommended pushing back start times in high schools, and the debates made their way to school boards in Chester County.

Of course some of the reaction to later start times – as acknowledged in the study and in school board discussions – is that teens don’t need to sleep later.

They need to “get off their phones” and go to bed earlier.

However, the study points to medical evidence that shows adolescent physiology does not support an “early to bed, early to rise” dictum.

After puberty, adolescents’ circadian rhythms change, and they are typically not able to get to sleep before midnight.

Their biological clocks conflict with the demands of high school schedules, according to the studies.

Adults who preach about the discipline of getting up at the crack of dawn for early morning sports practices and newspaper delivery jobs may be forgetting the reality: They were likely tired during the school day, dozing during classes and challenged to do their best academically.

And about those phones … Studies acknowledge that use of “screens” contributes to sleep deprivation because the “blue light” from cell phones, computers and other technology mimics sunlight, confusing the body about what time it is.

That’s one more reason to alter school start times, proponents say.

The recent state report is significant in its emphasis both on the science and the practicality that supports later school start times.

The study recognizes there are details to work through, especially bus transportation in large rural districts. The Chester County districts that have implemented the change faced that challenge and dealt with it, according to Dinniman.

The bottom line is that later school start times are beneficial to the adolescents whose safety and wellbeing matter.

We applaud Sen. Dinniman for his leadership on this issue, and we urge all school boards to embrace later start times as a benefit to education, health, and safety.

It’s time to wake up and make a change.