Virginia's fifth largest school district is considering a big change -- pushing up its start time for high schools by more than 2 hours, from 7:20 a.m. to 9:30 a.m.
Chesterfield County, just outside of Richmond, represents the latest in an incremental push statewide to get on board with what scientists, psychologists and educators are all saying: students, especially teens, need more sleep.
According to the Center for Disease Control, students who start school too early are more likely to be depressed, perform poorly on tests, and even be involved in car crashes.
The American Academy of Pediatrics suggests middle and high schools don’t start before 8:30 a.m.
Suzanne Mazzeo is a professor of psychology at Virginia Commonwealth University and a Chesterfield County parent.
“I’ve never seen such incredible consistency in how bad these early start times are for you, and also how changing them really makes drastic improvements on virtually every outcome,” says Mazzeo.
Science tells us puberty messes with the sleep cycle, meaning the average teen can’t fall asleep until 11 p.m. From there pediatricians recommend 8-9 hours of sleep.
“If you have to wake up, in Chesterfield the bus routes start at 5:40 a.m," Mazzeo says. "You’re just not going to get enough sleep.”
Chesterfield isn't the first district to consider the change. After ten years of fighting for later start times in Northern Virginia, Fairfax County pushed up the starting bell to just after 8 a.m.
But there are still about 20 districts in the state that start high school before then, including York and Prince William counties which start at 7:20 a.m.
