Starting with the 2022-2023 school year, California classes will start later: 8:00 am for middle schools and 8:30 am for high schools. It’s about time! Kids need to sleep at least 8-9 hours per night, and most can’t fall asleep before 11:00 pm. Do the math – our students are getting 5-7 hours of sleep per night in order to be in their classroom seats by 7:30 am start times.
I have been advocating for later school day start times for decades. When students start school later in the day, they have increased attendance and graduation rates, improved grades and performance – especially in math and science courses, and decreased car accidents in the mornings.
At Merit Academy, I set the start time at 9:00 am for all classes. When students get more sleep, they are more alert in class and perform better on exams. The later start time also allows kids to drive to school later than the early morning commute traffic jams.
Encourage your school administrators to push back the start time for school before the 2022-2023 school year. Gov. Gavin Newsom signed legislation on Sunday that makes California the first state to require the later class start times, but that doesn’t mean we have to wait until then to make the change. Let’s give our students the opportunity to get more sleep now.
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