Eddy's Moral High Ground: School Start Times
Eddy Calkins '22 Editor in Chief
School start times: the classic, easy-A argument essay for your English class. There are countless studies and statistics to back up arguments for later school start times. HCPSS high schools start over 30 mins before 8am, the average start time of US high schools. With the addition of a new high school (High School 13), HCPSS needed to redistrict once again. They will also implement new bell schedules starting in the 2023-2024 school year. HCPSS finally has an opportunity to fix the current bell schedules.
The HCPSS transportation office has laid out an extremely detailed plan to account for the overwhelmingly complicated logistical challenges. A new bus “opt-in” system will be created to ensure every student has an opportunity for transportation. In addition, high school bell schedules and transportation will have no correlation to elementary or middle schools. This makes it so elementary school schedules will not be reliant on high school schedules, accounting for the bus driver shortages.
Another surrounding county in Maryland also voted to adjust their schedules. Anne Arundel County Public School System will change their bell schedules starting in the 2022-2023 school year. They will now become a part of the exclusive 13% of U.S. high schools that start at 8:30 a.m. or later (The Hechinger Report). Their plan is to start all high schools at 8:30 a.m., with elementary and middle schools staggering before and after 8:30 a.m. While it may seem like a good idea, Chesapeake High School junior Anika Coleman explains, “…I’m honestly a little disappointed that school is starting later... getting out later makes it harder for me to do other things and make it back to school in time for dance company practice. It’s going to make other sports practices start later, people will be doing homework later and going to bed later. It just doesn’t make sense. It’s just pushing things back.”
In HCPSS, the day-to-day complaints about the early start usually headline the debate for changing bell schedules. Senior Gillian Gallagher states the importance of the first period, “If you have a horrible first period, you’re not going to be in a good mood for the rest of the day.” Junior Jen Zenker agrees, “I find myself coming in late because of the early start times.” While later start times would be nice, there is no clear scientific evidence that later start times equate to improved grades. There has been a small increase, but not significant enough for a major change. Still, we know teenagers are always sleep deprived, so pushing back the start time can’t hurt; “I think leniency is a good option…most students aren’t intentionally showing up late. It’s circumstances outside of our control,” explains Gallagher. In the end, school start times help some or hurt some, so that is not a must need change for high schools.
However, with the opportunity for reconstruction of the schedule, I’d love to see the implementation of a daily study period or “mental health” time. In the midst of the pandemic, everyone enjoyed the extra time throughout the day. Taking a break other than a 30-minute (more realistically 20 minute) lunch period would not only increase grades, but also the concentration and quality of each lesson. Zenker again agrees, saying, “I would like to have a study hall everyday because it helps me catch up with homework if I wasn’t able to do it outside of school.” In my experience, there is usually at least one class each day where I tune out. And I'm sure I’m not alone based on the number of sleepyheads I’ve sat next to. With the additional time, students will have time to reset their brains, get extra help and/or study for upcoming assessments. There are a lot of students (including myself) that would prefer to spend less time studying at home. Motivation is usually higher at school, so adding an extra period of time for students to study could go a long way.
There are a couple of different approaches that can be taken to give more “mental health time.” You could run a LionsTime-based schedule everyday. Simple, yet that can be done with the current bell schedule. Another solution is to give students one period off each day, similar to the teacher's planning periods. This would allow students a full 50 minutes to do whatever work or mental reset they need. Places such as the cafeteria and auditorium could be open for use. Even better, graduation requirements can still easily be met. Gallagher ends by saying, “Sometimes we just don’t have that time at home, and I think having a free period would really be helpful for a lot of students.”
The HCPSS transportation office has laid out an extremely detailed plan to account for the overwhelmingly complicated logistical challenges. A new bus “opt-in” system will be created to ensure every student has an opportunity for transportation. In addition, high school bell schedules and transportation will have no correlation to elementary or middle schools. This makes it so elementary school schedules will not be reliant on high school schedules, accounting for the bus driver shortages.
Another surrounding county in Maryland also voted to adjust their schedules. Anne Arundel County Public School System will change their bell schedules starting in the 2022-2023 school year. They will now become a part of the exclusive 13% of U.S. high schools that start at 8:30 a.m. or later (The Hechinger Report). Their plan is to start all high schools at 8:30 a.m., with elementary and middle schools staggering before and after 8:30 a.m. While it may seem like a good idea, Chesapeake High School junior Anika Coleman explains, “…I’m honestly a little disappointed that school is starting later... getting out later makes it harder for me to do other things and make it back to school in time for dance company practice. It’s going to make other sports practices start later, people will be doing homework later and going to bed later. It just doesn’t make sense. It’s just pushing things back.”
In HCPSS, the day-to-day complaints about the early start usually headline the debate for changing bell schedules. Senior Gillian Gallagher states the importance of the first period, “If you have a horrible first period, you’re not going to be in a good mood for the rest of the day.” Junior Jen Zenker agrees, “I find myself coming in late because of the early start times.” While later start times would be nice, there is no clear scientific evidence that later start times equate to improved grades. There has been a small increase, but not significant enough for a major change. Still, we know teenagers are always sleep deprived, so pushing back the start time can’t hurt; “I think leniency is a good option…most students aren’t intentionally showing up late. It’s circumstances outside of our control,” explains Gallagher. In the end, school start times help some or hurt some, so that is not a must need change for high schools.
However, with the opportunity for reconstruction of the schedule, I’d love to see the implementation of a daily study period or “mental health” time. In the midst of the pandemic, everyone enjoyed the extra time throughout the day. Taking a break other than a 30-minute (more realistically 20 minute) lunch period would not only increase grades, but also the concentration and quality of each lesson. Zenker again agrees, saying, “I would like to have a study hall everyday because it helps me catch up with homework if I wasn’t able to do it outside of school.” In my experience, there is usually at least one class each day where I tune out. And I'm sure I’m not alone based on the number of sleepyheads I’ve sat next to. With the additional time, students will have time to reset their brains, get extra help and/or study for upcoming assessments. There are a lot of students (including myself) that would prefer to spend less time studying at home. Motivation is usually higher at school, so adding an extra period of time for students to study could go a long way.
There are a couple of different approaches that can be taken to give more “mental health time.” You could run a LionsTime-based schedule everyday. Simple, yet that can be done with the current bell schedule. Another solution is to give students one period off each day, similar to the teacher's planning periods. This would allow students a full 50 minutes to do whatever work or mental reset they need. Places such as the cafeteria and auditorium could be open for use. Even better, graduation requirements can still easily be met. Gallagher ends by saying, “Sometimes we just don’t have that time at home, and I think having a free period would really be helpful for a lot of students.”