Upper St. Clair School District explores later school start times
UPPER ST. CLAIR, Pa. (KDKA) — The Upper St. Clair School District is exploring later school start times in an attempt to get more from its students in the classroom.
The plan would start next year if passed and proposes pushing start times back for all students by 30 minutes.
"I think that 30 minutes will do a lot to help every kid be more productive during the day," said Eli Mandler, a sophomore at the high school.
Mandler is a busy student-athlete who knows exactly how important eight hours of sleep is, but he said he still never gets it.
"A lot of us have to wake up early and show up to school tired, and then our first couple of classes we're tired, especially with the way our schedule runs with these long blocks after the first period," he said. "Everyone is just drowsy and it makes us unproductive throughout the rest of the day."
Those reasons are what motivated the district to explore later school start times. A child and adolescent psychiatrist at Allegheny Health Network said research shows starting school later improves students' overall health, academic performance and quality of life.
"The interesting thing about teenagers is they need more sleep than I think most people think," Dr. Gary Swanson said. "They need at least eight hours of sleep, preferably nine hours of sleep. And if your average teenager is going to bed at 10 (p.m.) and they have to be at school at 7 (a.m.) or on the bus at 6 (a.m.), they're not going to get that amount of sleep."
An email outlining the proposal says high school students would start at 8 a.m., elementary students at 8:35 a.m. and middle school students would start at 8:55 a.m.
Swanson believes this new schedule will benefit teens the most because they are typically sleep deprived. He added that they get up early, go to school and then participate in extracurricular activities before finishing the night with homework.
"When you see these kids who are sleep deprived, what you see is that they struggle more with maintaining attention and focus in the classroom," he said. "They have a harder time with their academic performance."
The district asked parents for their input by filling out a form online. The final recommendation for this proposal will be up for a vote at next month's board meeting.