Start High School Later in Montgomery County Movement and Petition

[Anonymous]

Awesome, now my DC can have her games and meets start later in the afternoon/evening and then start her homework even later than now!
What is it again, 90% of the country's high schools start around 7:15am?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Here is the petition link:
[/url](http://signon.org/sign/changing-montgomery-county)

Sleep doctors have discovered that as children age and reach their teens, there is a change in their sleep pattern. Hormonal changes, physical growth, and brain development all change the sleep cycles in teens. Prior to adolescence, children become sleepy at 8 or 9 o'clock. But teens may not experience sleepiness until 11 o'clock or even later.

Teens need about 9 hours sleep each night...many teens need up to 10 hours. Most teens aren't getting anywhere near this. The National Sleep Foundation estimates that only 15% of teens get that much.

[b]Effects of Teen Sleep Deprivation
1. Traffic accidents. Over 80,000 people in America fall asleep while driving...every day! Studies find over 50% of those people are teenage drivers.
2. Excessive sleepiness during the daytime. In a study in Pediatrics (June 2009), 33% of teens reported falling asleep in school.
3. Increased stress. Teens have a lot going on in their lives. Homework, after school jobs, keeping up with gossip with friends, and after school activities. The more they take on, the more sleep they cut out. The more sleep they cut out, the sleepier they get. This has profound consequences on physical health, especially with the immune system.
4. High blood pressure . A study the science journal Circulation (August 19, 2008, by Dr. Susan Redline), reports that teens who do not get enough sleep––or do not sleep well––have a greater risk for hypertension.
5. Decreased memory and ability to learn. Sleep deprivation doesn't help students learn to their best ability.
6. Lack of control. Sleep deprived teens appear to have a more difficult time controlling their emotions and behavior.
7. Increased rates of depression and suicidal thoughts. 8. Also proven to contribute to obesity.

(Startschoollater.net – Tons of great info. and the National Petition!)

Have you called up China, Japan, India and Russia and told them your findings? Their kids are study/work machines! Easily getting half of the 9 hours you pose and double the high test scores.

[Anonymous]

Let's be real. Asking our teenagers to be at their best at 7am is just not going to happen, even if they go to bed at 10pm. Their body clocks just aren't set for that schedule. Of course they will need to adapt, but they will be more able to do this as they enter adulthood and have more adult-like body clocks. In the meantime, I think it's a reasonable step to move the start of the academic day to 8 am.
It may not seem like much, but it would certainly help a lot of teens.

What time do you think these pre-adults got up in the 17th, 18th, 19th and 20th century? Who worked the farms in the agrarian era? Let's get real, the phenomenon of teenagers getting up past 8 am is a recent phenomenon of the idle rich. They represent a very small aliquot of the billions upon billions of adolescent who work jobs before ... and after returning from school.

Your recommendation may apply for listless, lazy and idle adolescent who have nothing to do but enjoy school and wonderful extracurricular activities. It does not seem to apply to the majority of adolescents around the globe.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Here is the petition link:
[/url](http://signon.org/sign/changing-montgomery-county)

Sleep doctors have discovered that as children age and reach their teens, there is a change in their sleep pattern. Hormonal changes, physical growth, and brain development all change the sleep cycles in teens. Prior to adolescence, children become sleepy at 8 or 9 o'clock. But teens may not experience sleepiness until 11 o'clock or even later.

Teens need about 9 hours sleep each night...many teens need up to 10 hours. Most teens aren't getting anywhere near this. The National Sleep Foundation estimates that only 15% of teens get that much.

[b]Effects of Teen Sleep Deprivation
1. Traffic accidents. Over 80,000 people in America fall asleep while driving...every day! Studies find over 50% of those people are teenage drivers.
2. Excessive sleepiness during the daytime. In a study in Pediatrics (June 2009), 33% of teens reported falling asleep in school.
3. Increased stress. Teens have a lot going on in their lives. Homework, after school jobs, keeping up with gossip with friends, and after school activities. The more they take on, the more sleep they cut out. The more sleep they cut out, the sleepier they get. This has profound consequences on physical health, especially with the immune system.
4. High blood pressure . A study the science journal Circulation (August 19, 2008, by Dr. Susan Redline), reports that teens who do not get enough sleep––or do not sleep well––have a greater risk for hypertension.
5. Decreased memory and ability to learn. Sleep deprivation doesn't help students learn to their best ability.
6. Lack of control. Sleep deprived teens appear to have a more difficult time controlling their emotions and behavior.
7. Increased rates of depression and suicidal thoughts. 8. Also proven to contribute to obesity.

(Startschoollater.net – Tons of great info. and the National Petition!)

Have you called up China, Japan, India and Russia and told them your findings? Their kids are study/work machines! Easily getting half of the 9 hours you pose and double the high test scores.

So the goal should be to emulate these countries? Or is the goal to come up with a plan that works for the majortity of adolescents in the U.S.? Why is it that in every debate we have people arguing "If it's good enough for China, India, etc it's good enough for us?" Or "If it was good enough several generations ago, then it's good enough for us." And does this same reasoning apply when we ponder what's best for the adults, or just when it comes to kids? Honestly, I don't think the competitive standing of the U.S. economy hinges on whether we start school at 7 or 8 am. Personally, I'd rather see schools end a bit later, say 3 or 3:30. I'd also like to see a longer school day which allows for more free time to study, seek extra help, etc., in school. My kids attended a private high school with this sort of schedule and I thought it worked very well.

[Anonymous]

You can allow your high school children to rise at 9 am for school and get 9 hours of sleep a day. Who's holding you back? Many folk home school giving them the flexibility of whatever schedule or content pleases them.

They will have a tough time functioning in the real world or holding down a job after school (assuming they get hired) but then again if they are trust babies who really cares. There a some of us who don't have to work courtesy of parents, grand parents and great grand parents.

[Anonymous]

So the goal should be to emulate these countries? Or is the goal to come up with a plan that works for the majortity of adolescents in the U.S.? Why is it that in every debate we have people arguing "If it's good enough for China, India, etc it's good enough for us?" Or "If it was good enough several generations ago, then it's good enough for us." And does this same reasoning apply when we ponder what's best for the adults, or just when it comes to kids? Honestly, I don't think the competitive standing of the U.S. economy hinges on whether we start school at 7 or 8 am. Personally, I'd rather see schools end a bit later, say 3 or 3:30. I'd also like to see a longer school day which allows for more free time to study, seek extra help, etc., in school. My kids attended a private high school with this sort of schedule and I thought it worked very well.

[Anonymous]

So the goal should be to emulate these countries? Or is the goal to come up with a plan that works for the majortity of adolescents in the U.S.? Why is it that in every debate we have people arguing "If it's good enough for China, India, etc it's good enough for us?" Or "If it was good enough several generations ago, then it's good enough for us." And does this same reasoning apply when we ponder what's best for the adults, or just when it comes to kids? Honestly, I don't think the competitive standing of the U.S. economy hinges on whether we start school at 7 or 8 am. Personally, I'd rather see schools end a bit later, say 3 or 3:30. I'd also like to see a longer school day which allows for more free time to study, seek extra help, etc., in school. My kids attended a private high school with this sort of schedule and I thought it worked very well.

I am a product of 6 am rise in private school and this work well for me also.

[Anonymous]

It may work but I would get rid of the 3 month summer vacations and instill a few 2- 3 week breaks during the 12 month calender yea (4 in total to coincide with a year divided into quarters). Then kids can start classes at 10 am and end at 4 pm.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Here is the petition link:
[/url](http://signon.org/sign/changing-montgomery-county)

Sleep doctors have discovered that as children age and reach their teens, there is a change in their sleep pattern. Hormonal changes, physical growth, and brain development all change the sleep cycles in teens. Prior to adolescence, children become sleepy at 8 or 9 o'clock. But teens may not experience sleepiness until 11 o'clock or even later.

Teens need about 9 hours sleep each night...many teens need up to 10 hours. Most teens aren't getting anywhere near this. The National Sleep Foundation estimates that only 15% of teens get that much.

[b]Effects of Teen Sleep Deprivation
1. Traffic accidents. Over 80,000 people in America fall asleep while driving...every day! Studies find over 50% of those people are teenage drivers.
2. Excessive sleepiness during the daytime. In a study in Pediatrics (June 2009), 33% of teens reported falling asleep in school.
3. Increased stress. Teens have a lot going on in their lives. Homework, after school jobs, keeping up with gossip with friends, and after school activities. The more they take on, the more sleep they cut out. The more sleep they cut out, the sleepier they get. This has profound consequences on physical health, especially with the immune system.
4. High blood pressure . A study the science journal Circulation (August 19, 2008, by Dr. Susan Redline), reports that teens who do not get enough sleep––or do not sleep well––have a greater risk for hypertension.
5. Decreased memory and ability to learn. Sleep deprivation doesn't help students learn to their best ability.
6. Lack of control. Sleep deprived teens appear to have a more difficult time controlling their emotions and behavior.
7. Increased rates of depression and suicidal thoughts. 8. Also proven to contribute to obesity.

(Startschoollater.net – Tons of great info. and the National Petition!)

Have you called up China, Japan, India and Russia and told them your findings? Their kids are study/work machines! Easily getting half of the 9 hours you pose and double the high test scores.

????
School in Russia starts 8:45 - 9:00, ends 2:30 for a high school students.
So, children spend less time at school.

[Anonymous]

But do Russian HS students get 3 months off in summer?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:But do Russian HS students get 3 months off in summer?

yes, almost 3 month
school year starts September 1st, ends in May, then end of year exams first week of June.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:But do Russian HS students get 3 months off in summer?

yes, almost 3 month
school year starts September 1st, ends in May, then end of year exams first week of June.

Sorry to hijack the thread, but I have also often wondered where the claim "kids around the world spend more days in school" comes from. I also went to school in the f.USSR and we had a full 3 months of summer vacation plus two weeks in the winter (no fall or spring break though) and I don't remember our school days being that much longer either. That claim might have been true 30 years ago when both kids and adults in USSR has six day work weeks, but it is certainly not true any more.

P.S. Our school day started at 8am, and because smaller neighborhood schools you could walk to in less than 15 minutes were the rule, few students had to wake up before 7.

[Anonymous]

does this mean the little ones would get to go to school at a reasonable time in the AM? if so, sign me up! I HATE the fact that DC will not start K next year until something like 9 or so. nuts. She's up from 6 AM and a 9 AM school start would put me to work by mid-morning if I tried to meet the bus. How awesome would a 7:30 ES start be???

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:does this mean the little ones would get to go to school at a reasonable time in the AM? if so, sign me up! I HATE the fact that DC will not start K next year until something like 9 or so. nuts. She's up from 6 AM and a 9 AM school start would put me to work by mid-morning if I tried to meet the bus. How awesome would a 7:30 ES start be???

I think it is a very good point and should be a major selling point for Mandi as she works to get more signatures on the petition. Late ES starting times are a major headache for parents who have to be at work early. And the most cost effective way to change HS start times is to switch with ES start times. I hope more parents of elementary school aged kids will consider signing.

[Anonymous]

This topic of later start times for HS was brought up some years ago, and the issue was with the school bus schedules; it was going to require a bunch of new buses to be purchased, since right now the same buses which take h.s. students to school later take elementary students to school.

From what I have read, there is no talk of sending elementary school students to school earlier, by the way.

My high schoolers don't want to have their school day start and end any later; they say it wouldn't give them enough time to relax in the evening, especially when they have an afterschool activity. As it is, if a sporting event they are participating in runs late, some nights they come home, eat, and then have start on their assignments right away, so they can get to bed at a decent hour. You can't expect kids to excel in all the advanced classes they are expected to take and not give them sufficient time to unwind in the evenings.