This is a fascinating topic. This article does not mention the time that fairfax county public schools start. Is it 8:00am? Do grade schools k-8 and high schools 9-12 operate uniformly in terms of start/ finish times or are there differences based on age or grade level?

An issue with greater importance than the need to sleep for 9 continuous hours, in my opinion, is the timing if after-school activities. Why should sports activities/ games start so late, end so late, and run overtime? It would not be a good idea to discourage kids from participating in sports after school, but it would be wise to put a cap on time limits.

Another issue, I believe, is parental responsibility associated with a teen's choices after school. Of the teen wants to do sports, dance, scouts, and socialize with friends, that is a recipe for disaster that is not cured by pushing forward start times for classes.

I think fairfax county public schools are putting a band aid on the problem (ie, requesting later class start times, getting school credits elsewhere) and not considering the fact that many, many outside factors influence a teen's schedule. It would be naive to believe that teens don't do anything after school. The reality is that our rich metropolitan area affords plenty of extracurricular activities, all of which are fun and tempting, and may ultimately affect the quantity of sleep that teens get.

Let's see...they can opt out of their first class, then make it up online, during which time (night, presumably) they will not be sleeping? What am I missing here?

The real solution, I agree, is to limit extra-curriculars to what a student can handle and still get enough sleep. But that takes governance out of it. Wouldn't want to do that.

T, the idea brought forward by Sandy Evans is just a proposal at this stage. I hope you'll all join us for the chat tomorrow.

Hi Erica -- A note regarding SLEEP and the national petition. SLEEP's grassroots effort is local and is focused on our efforts here in Fairfax. While I personally support the efforts of the advocates from around the country who are working on the national effort, because I believe it will lead to increased awareness about the conflict between very early high school start times and teen sleep requirements, SLEEP's petition is directed to the Board of Supervisors and the School Board in Fairfax.

I’m sorry not to be able to participate “Live”. Patch is to be complemented to bring this and many other topics to the public via this forum.

I believe that school schedules should be altered to start later in the day at all levels, and especially so for the middle and high school students. The medical and social science thinking is abundantly clear that it is appropriate to start school later in the day. It is rarely disputed on scientific grounds. Many school districts in Virginia do indeed currently start after 8am. Why not Fairfax County?

The last time a later start time was considered, it stalled in part due to the influences of the after-school sports and extracurricular "lobby", the limited availability of bus resources and the “inconveniences to the family schedule”.

SLEEP: it's time to assess these prior unsuccessful campaigns and try to develop actions to “work around” these objections to win over those who were opposed in the past. Really, all that is asked is to think "outside the box", objectively putting the academic success of the kids above other considerations. PARENTS and STAKE HOLDERS: think through what CAN be done to revise school start times. TO ALL: Change is always hard, but many times change is good!

I suggest that FCPS schedule an Educational Summit on this subject in 2012. This will be a time well spent, and will be the opportunity to address this subject with transparency.

John Wittman
Fairfax Station

As SLEEP Chair, I want to reiterate that SLEEP wants ALL FCPS students to have a healthy and safe start time. It is possible to schedule the buses so that none of our students have to be at the bus stop at a too-early time. In neighboring Loudoun, HS is 9 to 3 and elementary schools are 7:50 to 2:35. Loudoun has a great extracurricular program. Change is always a challenge, as the poster above states. Families adjust their schedules when their kids move from ES to middle and high school. looking forward to tomorrow's chat. Thanks, Patch, for providing these forums for the community!

Correction: Loudoun high schools dismiss at 3:48.

Our daughter has to get up at 5:15 a.m.to eat, dress and stand on a curb in the dark in order to make the 6:40 bus to be in her seat by 7:20 at Langley High. And dismissal is at 2:10 - an impossible pick-up time for dual-working families so many of the kids have - out of financial necessity - become latch-key kids. Meanwhile, the over-emphasis nationwide on the AP courses has effectively pushed the first year of college down to the private and public high schools. And the competition for slots in our nation's colleges is also driven to obscene levels due to evolving expectations that everyone must go to college; the relatively new influx of international students flocking to colleges in America; and the fact that - at least in VA - too many seats in the state college system are given to out-of-state students who pay full freight. Ironically, we, as Virginians, cannot get into Texas A&M because 90% of the slots got to Texans. In California, the UC and Cal State programs ares oversubscribed by Californians so there is no room for an out-of-state student. The system is simply broken. See Andy Ferguson's, "Crazy U" (http://search.aol.com/aol/search?q=andy+Ferguson+cRazy+U&s_it=tb50-ie-aol-chromesbox-en-us). The high school kids are stressed to the max and exhausted. Homework burdens keep them up until midnight and then they have to get up at 5:15 to stand on a curb in the dark to wait for a 6:40 bus. Diana Bork, former Deputy General Counsel, U.S. Dept. of Education.

Hi all -- our chat is going on right now. Join in! http://vienna.patch.com/articles/patchchat-live-a-later-school-start-time

Diana, your observations are true all over the country, as I'm sure you well know. Our local efforts here in Anne Arundel County, MD have been futile for over a decade, which is why I started the national petition (http://bit.ly/tWa4dS). We are asking for national leaders to promote a barebones limit on how early schools start instruction each day (the idea being that some kind of public health law or regulation is necessary to protect public health and safety). Ultimately specific school hours will be set at the local level, of course, but experience suggests that we need the support of state and national leaders to make it possible for most local schools to prioritize health and learning when they set their particular schedules. For more information about what we're trying to do by bringing together local groups that have been unable to achieve this in isolation, see www.StartSchoolLater.net. Thanks!

“You know a school or a school district is in trouble when the strategic plan follows the principles of the ABC School of Management–Administration By Convenience. One of the best indicators of an adult-focused environment, one that is practicing the principles of ABC, is when research is blatantly ignored in favor of current practice.“—Mel Riddile, M.Ed., Ed.D, Associate Director for High School Services, National Association of Secondary School Principals, former state (Virginia) and national Principal of the Year. (Riddile, Time Shift: Is your school jet-lagged? (Mar. 14, 2011) NASSP, The Principal Difference.)

Terra - you are absolutely right. Every study on the adolescent brain indicates that we should be doing the opposite of what we are doing in our schools. Children need more sleep and need to sleep in later in the mornings. If I remember correctly, it's a melatonin deficiency problem particular to the adolescent brain. Some studies have even demonstrated that adolescent brains don't function sufficiently well for them to drive safely in early morning hours. And we now know the adolescent brain doesn't even mature until 22 or 23. Also, on the homework side of the national problem, most studies are concluding that the massive amounts of homework thrown on our kids - both public and private - up through middle school are for naught. It just creates undue stress for the kids and the families, hatred of learning and ultimately burn-out (as we have seen in the Japanese culture which emphasizes homework, grades and competition too early - when they hit college the Japanese students collapse and party). We are now seeing U.S. kids - who have had every educational advantage (we really like Langley High School, by the way, and the principal, Matt Ragone, is fabulous, so what I am construing should not be interpreted as a hit on this particular high school) - ACT/SAT prep; tutors; thousands of hours of homework and have gone through the gruesome college application mill process/game, arrive at college and collapse from exhaustion and are back home in two months.

Dear Mozart - it does sound strange but you aren't counting in the double alarm system we have hooked up . . . . The fact that kids sleep right through the alarms due to exhaustion, so there is at least 20 minutes of trying to rouse the kids up. Then dad makes a sitdown healthy breakfast (OK that is probably unusual but lunch is rushed at school or nonexistent due to trying to make up tests or participating in a meeting), then it is upstairs to change, makeup, brush the hair, collect all the homework strewn around the house, pack two backpacks, a chore and then a run for the bus. And sometimes the bus is missed altogether. And, no, this is not a difficult teenager. She's just exhausted and can't pull herself together quickly in the morning.

Thank goodness some people are making sense in this town! Later start times for high school students is a no brainer. As for the question, "What makes high-school students more deserving of later start times than elementary schools?"...the fact that their brains function much differently and they need more sleep than they are getting - not always because of extracurriculars and homework. Teenager have trouble falling asleep before, say, 11:00 - different bio-rhythm. I have 3 teenagers, and all 3 have very different sleep patterns than they did in elementary school.

Perhaps just as important as teenagers needing later start times...elementary students need EARLIER ones. I teach 5th graders - and they arrive at school at 8:45 having been up for at least 2 hours already...by the time they return from lunch and recess, they are DONE. There is very little learning going on in an elementary classroom after about 1:30 pm - no matter how hard one tries! If we started at 7:45, at least we'd gain an hour of "focused" time.

Dolores, I could not agree more. Our homelife is consumed by homework for our two children and the steps "expected" to be followed to get into college. My daughter (and her friends) must sleep in until noon on Saturdays to get caught up on sleep. Our pediatrician insists on 7 1/2 hours; we rarely get that in due to homework. Also problematic are the extra credit opportunities that we must do to raise GPA - but which require a parent to either take a day off from work, drive to a museum, pay for parking or Metro, purchase tickets, follow the instructions for the project, nag the child to complete the project and make sure it gets turned in on time. My husband and I work from home so we have more flexibility than most. What on earth do single parents or dual-working parents do to complete these projects? And some involve considerable cost that could be a burden to some families. This year we've covered the Holocaust museum; the oceanographic section of the Natural History Museum; Abe LIncoln's cottage; the gem show at the Dulles expo center. Those were just the "extra credit" projects that have to be shoe-horned into the weekends around other homework. Tonight my daughter goes to ACT prep, now an expected course and very expensive, but unheard of a decade agol Then she will come home and do more homework..Kids in AP classes are overwhelmed and beg to be reassigned. The suicide rate for teens is up. I have yet to meet a family in D.C. happy with this broken system.

Re healthy start times for teens v. elementary students. It is not an either/or choice. We can and should have a reasonable start time for all students. And yes, FCPS is different from Loudoun, and there are school systems of all sizes w/ healthy start times. Re the student work schedules, data indicates that employers tailor their hiring of teens to align with school schedules.

T Ailshire - actually, no, she can't go to a museum on her own. Too young. No driver's license. No way to get to Metro on her own. Never maneuvered Metro underground on her own before. he Holocaust museum is always overbooked in the spring. Fortunately, I paid in advance $25.00 online to join the support the museum club. Had I not done that we would have never gotten in. I took a day off from work; my husband dropped us before opening time - by then the line was already wrapped around the museum and trailing off towards the Jefferson monument. But because we were members of the "support the museum" club we were allowed to go to the front of the line but only because I asked and flashed our new museum membership. She would have never gotten in to the museum had we just dropped her at Falls Church Metro and said "you figure it out". And, frankly, some kids are just young to see some of the more horrifying exhibits at the Holocaust museum so it was appropriate that I go with her to share it with her. And, yes, even though she is a very hard-working student, sometimes we do have to nag because there are simply too many assignments and some fall of the charts. And as to you question about completing college work, that's what I addressed earlier - some kids just can't hack it when they get there and come home after two months. It's happened to the very best parents that I know - ones that make their kids self-advocate and do their best on their own.

Dolores - Good job! I just had a chance to read the article and see your son standing in the dark (your video is marked "private" by the way so I couldn't access), but it's exactly what my daughter faces here in McLean, VA. She has to walk to a bus stop (often in rain and snow) in the dark to catch a 6:41 bus for a 7:20 start. We have no sidewalks or street lights here so she has to walk in the dark street and I am terrified that someone coming off the Beltway (a major thoroughfare near our house) is going to sweep wide and hit her. Her freshman year we drove her daily because the situation is too dangerous. Now, when able, my husband puts on a reflective yellow vest to walk with her to the pickup spot or she stands there alone. Driving herself is not an option because she doesn't have her license and her school has so overgrown its original site that parking is not allowed for freshman, sophomores or juniors. Seniors can get limited parking through a lottery system. I think some juniors can get spots through the school auction or for special needs. But no one else can park at the school because there is simply no room and every car is checked before driving into the parking lot. So it's either bus in the dark, or parents driving in the dark. When I went to school in California, it was 9:00 - 3:00 and we never had to walk in the dark. You are correct - it is a national problem. All of the studies indicate we are doing the opposite of what our adolescents need.

I have a teenager with special needs who attends high school in Fairfax County. Bus routes for most special transportation students are longer because they often attend high schools outside their attendance areas. This is because different high schools have special education programs for different disabilities. It breaks my heart to have to get wake up my son at 5:00 so he can get on his bus at 6:00. His bus route is so long that it takes almost an hour for the bus to get to school. He goes to bed willingly around 7:30, but is clearly exhausted at 5:00 am. He needs more sleep than his non-disabled peers.

Since I work outside the home full-time, this also means that I have to get up at 4:00 so I can get myself together and help him get ready. Special needs students can stay in high school until age 22 if needed, which means we face 6 years of this nonsense.

I hope school board members consider the health of special education students and their families as they hopefully take action on this important topic.

The truth is nobody needs 8-9 hours of sleep really, especially not if your life is an exciting one. Everyone has had these experiences, during spring breaks or vacations or otherwise uplifting events, sleep becomes an after thought. If students really looked forward to going to school and educating themselves they would not need 8 to 9 hours of sleep. Truth here is that the school is boring though, because most teachers are bland in personality and the curriculum is stifling and rigid. Lets look reality squarely in the eye...

Years of research shows that extended sleep deprivation is a serious health problem. We can't blame teachers or teens for the fact that teens are sleepy. They are sleepy because they are missing early morning sleep that they are biologically wired to need.

School start times and teen exhaustion were the same when I was in high school, 30 years ago (gasp!). I rode the bus to school, started my first class of the day at 7:10 and remember feeling barely awake! It was a constant challenge fitting in extracurriculars, homework, a job, and social life, and I often came home from softball practice and literally collapsed for a power nap before eating dinner and doing homework. I distinctly remember being exhausted a LOT, but guess what? Waking up to walk to 7:30 classes in college was no easier, nor is waking up for a 6:30 commute now. It's LIFE! Although I know teens need more sleep and we all want to protect and make life as easy as possible for them, it's not necessarily a bad thing to get them used to having to get up early, and teaching them time management skills and careful selection of extracurriculars.

One Love: We are supposed to want for our children better than what we had. Imagine if you had the chance to go to school at 8:30 how much better your quality of life would have been. I won't comment on your brain development.

7:30 college classes? Here is an interesting sleep study conducted at the Air Force Academy: http://www.econ.ucdavis.edu/faculty/scarrell/sleep.pdf. Here is the abstract:

"Recent sleep research finds that many adolescents are sleep-deprived because of both early school start times and changing sleep patterns during the teen years. However, there is relatively little credible evidence on the potential benefits to academic achievement from starting the school day later in the morning. This study identifies the causal effect of school start time on academic achievement by using two policy changes in the daily schedule at the US Air Force Academy along with the randomized placement of freshman students to courses and instructors. Results
show that starting the school day 50 minutes later has a significant positive effect on student achievement, which is roughly equivalent to raising teacher quality by one standard deviation."

Greg, your comment is spot on... because we have always done something a certain way is no reason not to change it. I can remember when retail stores weren't open on Sundays, banks weren't open on the weekends, I had to wash dishes by hand, roll the car window up and down by hand, use white out when I made a mistake on a paper, call Home from a payphone, get up from my couch to change the channel on the TV....and there was a time when women couldn't vote, etc.

I hope I've made my point to those who present the argument, "I had to go to school at 7:10, too." or "I have to get up at 6:30 to go to work.".....uninformed at best and idiotic at worst.

I really wish I had a clearer grasp of what it is that is preventing the school system from changing in the face of so much popular demand plus the scientific evidence. I know there are arguments about bus systems (which have been addressed), cost (ditto), athletics (ditto), needing teens to be home to babysit (hardly fair on the teens themselves let alone all the families where this doesn't apply - EDUCATION is supposed to be our/their priority), needing teens to earn money (ditto). But I really haven't heard FCPS (or any other school system's) full on explanation for their continued opposition. Is it just easier to go on saying no?
As for the argument "That's life" - well no it isn't. Many people are able to choose to work in ways that suit their own patterns and that will increasingly be true as companies allow and enable tele-commuting and other forms of flexible work schedule. Plus, adolescents are simply DIFFERENT from adults. Physically, psychologically, emotionally. And they don't have choice in this area. Adults do.
The last two years with my kids in high school have been horrible. They are pale, exhausted, depressed, stressed and have had more sick days than in all the years preceding put together. Everyone I talk to at their school, teachers, counselors, administrators, shakes their head when I mention the start times and the kids' exhaustion. They know. And nothing changes.

Wow... Greg Brandon and Heather Barber, it is possible to voice your opinions without a personal attack on someone who holds a different opinion. "I won't comment on your brain development." "uninformed at best and idiotic at worst." Yikes. It is possible that that is why others have been tuning out what you are saying. Try a kinder, more respectful tone, and you may find that you get the same in return... Peace.

They are probably sleepy because they don't go to bed on time. We've got 9 kids and 4 of them are graduates of Robinson (lawyer, pastor, Army officer and one still at William & Mary.)

Here are some tips:
Cut off the electronic gizmos... have you checked to see how many text messages your kids are sending to their buddies after 10:00 at night? Then check Facebook

Turn off the TV - its a vast wasteland

Instill a sense of personal responsibility...

For most kids, I'll bet that if you followed them around and charted how they used their time for 3 straight days you would find a lot of wasted time... (most adults, too, frankly)....

All of our kids are different but we have found that getting to bed at a reasonable time at night is a good solution for "sleepy"...

I respect the opinion of the "go to school later" folks but I'd be looking at family habits and attitudes first.

Ben--Thank you for sharing these tips. Having a good routine and making sure that electronic screens -- televisions, computers, cell phones -- are NOT in the bedroom is important (per your suggestions above). It's important to have a set routine before bed and helps to shut screens off an hour before one is planning to go to sleep (this can help adults as well). Also, avoid caffeine in the afternoon and evening. http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/health-topics/topics/sdd/strategies.html

With buses picking students up as early as 5:45, and classes starting at 7:20, students would have to be in bed and asleep as early as 8:30 or 9:00 p.m. to get the sleep their bodies and brains require at this age.

Children need both good sleep hygiene and a school schedule that is in sync with their body clocks. Even with the best routine and personal discipline, many students this age are still deprived of sleep because of the conflict between the very early school start time and their bodies' naturally shifted sleep clock.

Our school system should be working with the biology of the student learners rather than against it.

Just make sure as you hold these discussions that young children do not bear the brunt of this choice. My elementary students already get up at 6:30 for school. They are the last bus stop, too. So imagine how early the kids at the first stop get up! If it is not safe for teens to wait in the dark, what is the logic in doing that to young children? Elementary kids are not to be pawns in this discussion, which was thoroughly held in 2008. And in the survey FCPS conducted in 2008, even the teens chose the earlier start time to allow for extracurricular activities, family time and homework time. I really do not think it is necessary to revisit it again.

Hi Kim,
Proponents of a healthy start time for teens are just as adamantly in support of healthy and safe start times for elementary and middle school children as they are for teens.
Other school systems of all shapes and sizes have been able to schedule the bus routes so as to accommodate extracurricular activities and family time. Unfortunately, the survey you cite cannot be used as a measure of community sentiment about the overall start time issue, as people weren't asked their opinion of 7:20 am start times for high schools nor whether they would prefer high schools to start closer to 8 or 8:30 am. The public's opinion was only sought for Iteration 3 "overall" as compared to the current schedule. (The introduction to the survey stated: "We want to know your reaction to the Proposed Bell Schedule Iteration #3.") This wasn’t a survey about later high school start times. It was instead a survey about an FCPS staff-designed plan (Iteration 3). Iteration 3 had problems and so did the sports schedule that was associated with Iteration 3. Fairfax County residents rejected the staff draft Iteration 3 bell schedule--NOT later start times for high schools--largely because of radical shifts slated for elementary and middle school schedules. Many of those ES times were significantly changed in fall 2009 anyway, despite FCPS saying these parents are happy with the previous ES start times.

Well, Heather commented above that she "knows" the elementary kids are up at least two hours before school because they're little kids. As a parent of "little" kids, I can tell you that is about the stupidest thing I've heard. Parents of my children's friends are completely opposed to earlier start times for young children as sleep is critical for them during periods of growth, etc. Young children need upwards to 10-12 hrs/night depending upon age of the child. I just wanted to make sure that you all don't time to shift the times to hurt the youngsters as was attempted in 2008.

I have to drag my 4th and 6th graders out of bed at 7 am to drop them off at SACC at 7:30, so I can be at work at 8. They are in bed at night by 8 pm; they are not happy with getting up so early but it has nothing to do with the start time of school.My high school son is in bed at 9:00 and he gets up at 5:30. He is doing fine with that schedule even though he would prefer to sleep later and go to bed later; he also has self-limited after school activities so he has time to finish his homework to get to bed on time. Not that he's an awesome student (he often DOES his homework and forgets it at home... sigh) but he is managing in the current system. And, honestly, many people have to get up for work at that time. 100 years ago, everybody got up at that time and almost all 17 and 18 year olds went to work. It isn't a perfect solution, our current schedule, but changing it would mean changing SACC and forcing many families to adjust their work schedules to get their middle schoolers off before leaving.

Amelie, I'm curious as to where you got your information about how things were 100 years ago. From what I've been able to tell, we have very poor records, both historically and currently, about both school start times and bus runs. Many people insist theywent to school at the crack of dawn, but most historians of the subject say that before about 30 years ago few schools started before 8:30 a.m.

You might want to check out a forum held last week at the Harvard School of Public Health in which the panelists concurred about the need to start high schools later. Here's what Dr. Charles Czeisler, Chief, a sleep specialist and professor of medicine at Harvard, had to say there about times of schools 100 years ago specifically:

According to Dr. Czeisler: "A hundred years ago, Lewis Terman who, for 20 years, was Chairman of the Psychology Department at Stanford [he developed IQ testing for children]...studied the sleep of grade school kids and high school kids in many of the western states...[T] schools all started at nine o’clock in the morning.And he compared the amount of sleep that the kids in the United States were getting with the amount of sleep that the kids in Germany and England were getting. And they were getting about one and a half hours less sleep per night than they were in the U.S. schools, which was starting at nine o’clock in the morning.

"...100 years ago he said, 'We should never change to the system where we have our kids starting school at 7:30 in the morning like they do in Germany and England, because it’s going to degrade their ability to learn in school.' Well here we are, 100 years later. We have the kids starting at 7:30, seven o’clock in some places, in the morning. If they’re being bused from afar, they may be getting up at five o’clock in the morning. And our kids have lost...two hours less sleep per night on school nights,,, than they did when Professor Terman did those studies. And I think these increased risks of diabetes and obesity and so on, I think are directly linked to that loss of sleep in kids."

This is an interesting discussion. I have learned a lot about the experiences of other families by reading this. One of the posters said that we should just let this matter drop. The problem is, the matter won't drop as long as medical research and science keep coming out with information on the healthful benefits of sleep, the detrimental effects of sleep deprivation on the human body, and the sleep needs of teenagers for brain development, and mental, physical, and emotional health. Why don't we let the matter of the effects of alcohol on cancer and heart disease "just drop?" Why don't we just ignore the data on asbestos or cigarette smoke or seat belts? You cannot just put your head in the sand because you don't want to change.

I plead guilty to the extra credit trips: I remember running down late on a Saturday afternoon to the WWII memorial--my son and I jumped out of the car and I took a picture of my son in front of the required sites while my husband waited in the car. That's all the time we had due to so many other activities. Same think at Udvar-Hazy--we ran over between school and practice to get pictures in front of the required exhibits. Probably not what the teacher had in mind.

Kathy - you got me laughing. It's TRUE. All the extra credit (formerly known as field trips) assignments come with numerous rules to prove the child was there. For the Dulles Gem and Jewellry show, it was ticket stub and then an in-depth interview with a lapidarist. Photographs of the show. Photographs of child interviewing a willing lapidarist. Lincoln's cottage was ticket stub and dozens of photos of exhibits with a written explanation of each exhibit. Holocaust museum was ticket stub and your choice of artistic expression about what the child experienced. Ford's theater was photos of child in front of exhibits and then a written explanation of a specific number of exhibits plus ticket stub. Oceanographic Exhibit was NO ticket stub (hooray, that was free but parking took an hour) but again came with specific requirements as to proof of being there and written description of what you saw in some specific order. You are right about Udvar-Hazy - blocked that one out of my mind. And, guess what, if my son goes to Langley we get to do this all over again! (maybe I can just do a little photo-shopping with heads, hmmm, but alas the ticket stubs have been turned in).

I know that early start times are impacting the health of my child. In case anyone wants to watch, I "unlocked" the video of my son waiting for his bus in the dark, in the busy street at 6:35 am. Can anyone honestly say that this is a good thing? http://youtu.be/pUSWUFsh7oE

For the health and safety of OUR children - we can't let this matter drop. I agree with Laurie, we can't put our heads in the sand and expect things to change. There are currently many laws and regulations in place in schools that focus on health and safety. These exist for a reason - to protect OUR nation's children and ensure public health.

To name just a few: School immunization laws, physical activity requirements, hazardous transportation laws for schools, laws prohibiting tobacco use on school property, pesticide application laws, Federal nutrition standards for school meals, Federally mandated school wellness policies, Federal gun free schools / zero tolerance.....

Someday, I hope things will change and schools will no longer start at ridiculous early hours. It sounds like there are some very intelligent people on this thread. I hope we can make a difference.

I'm a sophomore. My bus comes at 6:40, a full 40 minutes before the South Lakes start time, so I have to be up by 6:10 every day. I'm in IB classes, so I spend anywhere from 1-6 hours per night on homework; additionally, I'm a basketball manager, which means that game days, I don't get home until 9 or 9:30pm. Combined with my insomnia, I'm often lucky to get 5 hours of sleep per night--definitely not enough. I'm so exhausted that I've been sleeping through my first period class, and find it difficult to focus throughout the entire day. To add to my frustration, my bus gets to school in the morning a full 20 minutes before class starts, which makes absolutely no sense whatsoever, considering that it could just come later and still make it to school on time.