Time is perhaps the most valuable resource we have at our disposal. We all wish to have more of it to do everything we want to do – to help people in need, to spend more time with family, to explore potential passions, to live. As people, we should always strive to save as much time as we can, and I believe that an earlier start to school could be an important step to better achieve this goal. Any school schedule changes mentioned in this article have not been confirmed. It serves more as a point of discussion than anything else.
After analyzing what would be the most optimal hour to start school, I landed at 7:30 AM. Here’s why: Being in high school can be tough. Most of your schedule is filled with stressful classes where you’re required to be constantly working in class and at home. Many students don’t have cars and are required to use public or alternative transportation to get around places, and by the time they get home, they either fall asleep or need to attend to other responsibilities before sitting down to do homework. Starting school even an hour earlier can provide students with a longer afternoon, opening the doors to less stress and more activities if they desire them. Things such as sports, events, and hobbies would then be allowed to start much earlier.
I spoke with Ms. Sirio – our assistant principal – and she believes starting school earlier would definitely come with many benefits, but alongside this change, there would be a few complications for the district. If we were to change our start schedule, this would cause a domino effect, requiring middle and elementary schools to start earlier as well, affecting parents, who now have to find earlier afternoon childcare for their kids. Bus scheduling would also have to change to accommodate this decision. So while there are issues that would need to be addressed, the change would be beneficial over time.
Sleep is perhaps the most important reason I wrote this article. Good sleep is essential to having productive days. Without it, we become grumpy, easily annoyed, and less willing to cooperate with others. Discipline is required to achieve 8 hours of sleep every day, and we’ve all certainly struggled with making this a routine. I know some students wouldn’t thrive from an earlier school schedule, but I believe most of us would; unfortunately, the change was made back in August of 2011 from 7:30 AM to 8:30 AM, and then from 8:00 AM to 8:30 AM in August of 2019.
The school district is always implementing changes to better help our students, and although many of their decisions have been met with controversy, they’re not made to negatively affect us, on the contrary. That’s one of the main reasons we’ve actually started school at 8:30 AM. I still believe that this change in our school schedule could positively affect us over time, but with too many variables going against this decision, it’s just not possible, and now more than ever is when an extra hour of sleep could go a long way for us students.
