The San Mateo Union High School District board (SMUHSD) is currently contemplating changing the school start time from 8:00 a.m. to 8:30 a.m., so students can gain an extra half an hour of sleep. Although this topic is purely in discussion phase and not many measures have been suggested, the Aragon site council and Parent Teacher Student Organization (PTSO) board are both aware of the idea. Despite the potential benefits of this idea, there has been some controversy surrounding this topic. A board meeting is going to be held tonight, Thursday Nov. 17, by SMUHSD at San Mateo Adult School, 789 E. Poplar Ave., starting at 7 p.m., featuring a discussion on the late start proposal.
With more sleep, it is proven that students have an improved memory, greater reaction time, happier mood, better athletic performance and higher attendance rates. Drowsy teens tend to be more anxious, irritable, unmotivated and depressed, leading to impaired decisions and higher stress. According to Public School Review, two-thirds of high school students sleep less than seven hours; many high school students have trouble processing the information they learn in school and tend to unhealthy habits.
Wellness Counselor Jill Ma argues, “Someone who is more well rested is going to be in a better mood … [You are] able to emotionally get through things a little bit if you have a good night’s sleep. You’re going to be able to cope better with things that are tougher for you. You’re going to be able to focus better in school [and] be able to be more productive.” More sleep leads to improvements in sports, in class and throughout the well-being of students.
On the opposing side, some students believe that the health advantages do not compensate for the setbacks associated with a later start and end time.
Students with after school activities, such as sports and music, will arrive home later in the evening as their practices and rehearsals will be shifted to a later time. Sophomore Maria Sell states, “As an athlete, that’s my main concern, that you’d be spending a lot more time [at school] and people who are doing concerts or have rehearsals for shows would stay at school even later.”
With less daylight, there becomes less time to study, complete homework, hang out with friends, play sports and rehearse music. Sophomore Grace Simenc acknowledges, “Students would be just staying up later to finish homework because school gets out later … [The later start time] is only half an hour, so for a lot of people, that wouldn’t make much of a difference.”
Transportation also poses an issue because bus drivers cannot rotate their different pick-up schedules, with having to pick up elementary students before high schoolers.
School districts distribute limited resources, transportation-wise, in order to balance their budgets.
Additionally, public transportation will have to alter their schedules in order to satisfy the later start times. Principal Patricia Kurtz acknowledges, “Transportation is driven by the district office. So they determine the schedules. I’m assuming that if our schedules change, they would understand that they would have to make changes.”
Teachers might also face more traffic if they leave school at a later time, and parents who drop their children off to school may have difficulties arriving to work on time. Simenc agrees, “Parents rely on the schedule that’s already set to pick up their kids. And if their kids have a sport after school, that might mean that they get out of school at roughly the same time the parents get off at work.”
Kurtz understands that changing the later start time would require more awareness regarding the benefits of sleep. She says, “We need to talk about other issues [like] that students are on their cellphones very late; they’re playing games. They’re doing other things, so truly if we’re moving to a later start day, we also need to be working with students and parents to understand [that] you need to also make sure that your students are getting more sleep.”
Depending on whether or not the change is approved, Aragon students may have a new scheldule at the beginning of the 2017-2018 school year.
