New Bill Proposed to Start High School Earlier
RUBY LA
STAFF WRITER
A bill proposed by California State Senator Anthony Portantino would require California secondary schools to start no earlier than 8:30 a.m. On Wednesday, Sept. 20, the Senate Education Committee approved SB 328, which states schools will implement by July 1, 2020. However, this bill was voted down by the state assembly.
The State Senate Committee debated to approve SB 328 based on research, by Dr. Terry Cralle a clinical sleep educator, that was collected from school districts around the country from every demographic and socioeconomic level. The data showed a positive result for student achievement and student public health from schools that started later in the day.
“I agree with the bill in that school should start at 8:30,” sophomore Adrian Govea said, “Later start times would give us time to sleep, go rest our brains to get a head start to learn at school.”
Dr. Kyla Wahlstrom, a researcher from the University of Minnesota, has observed that teens should sleep from 10:45 p.m. to 8:00 a.m. She has overseen three schools in Minneapolis, where students experienced relatively less depression since they started school later. Furthermore, the principal of one of the schools noted that fewer discipline referrals were given out to students. Wahlstrom additionally studied a school in Jackson Hole, Wyoming where traffic accidents involving teenagers are much lower than the national average. There was also decreased sports injuries, drug use and obesity.
“I believe that even if school starts later we will run into the same problems as now because earlier school times also means that school will end later,” senior Syrus Bun Chong Chitr said, “Extracurricular will also begin and end later so students will have to stay up late to do homework.”
Students around the country claim that there is not enough time to get to school on time, which causes them to become tardy. On the other hand, the California School Boards Association (CSBA) opposes SB 328. The CSBA is a group of elected officials who govern public school districts and county offices of education, help advocate policies and advance education. They do not oppose the idea of having later start times but rather the decision that school start times should change for all 3,000 secondary schools in the state of California. They believe that the bill would pose challenges when implemented at schools. These challenges would include family hardships. School ending times will also be pushed back to accommodate for earlier start times that students will receive.