Dear Editors,

I appreciate your attention to the later high school start time issue in your opinion piece of May 6, but would like to offer a different perspective. The reason the School Board has set a goal, supported by Superintendent Garza, of starting high school after 8 am is for the physical, mental and academic health of our teen students.

The current schedule is indeed broken. Students having to get up in the very early morning to catch 6-something-AM buses makes it virtually impossible for them to get as much sleep as they need to stay healthy and well-balanced. Two-thirds of our teen students get 7 hours or less of sleep per school night when they need around 9 hours for optimal physical and mental health. How many high school students do we know who get even 8 hours on school nights?

One enduring myth about the start time issue is that students will not get more sleep. Substantial research from jurisdictions that have made the change show that most students end up going to sleep about the same time but get up later. In other words, students indeed do gain more sleep from the change.

The science behind this change is clear, compelling and growing. That’s why later high school start times are a national trend and are supported by groups such as the Fairfax County Council of PTAs, the Virginia State PTA, the Medical Society of Northern Virginia, the FCPS School Health Advisory Committee, the Fairfax County Federation of Teachers, the Virginia Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, Northern Virginia Clinical Psychologists, the Coalition of the Silence (concerned largely with the detrimental impact of early start times on minority and disadvantaged students), the League of Women Voters of the Fairfax Area, and U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan.

The School Board and Superintendent Garza do understand and take very seriously the concerns outlined in the A-Blast opinion piece, as well as others raised by various stakeholders throughout the long process of consideration.

Among the top concerns is working sports and extracurriculars around a new schedule, and our athletics team is working diligently on the complex job of doing just that. They are looking at ways to keep some practice times and most competitions the same while shifting others, but the solutions will be more complicated and varied than just moving everything later.

You mention homework load and other time pressures, and that is another serious issue the School Board wants and needs to address. We see many of our teen students struggling to fit 36 hours into a 24-hour day, and the toll this can take in stress levels and mental health is very concerning. This was a major topic of conversation at the recent FCPS Teen Stress Summit at Hayfield Secondary School, which I hope some of you were able to attend.

I urge you as interested, intelligent and thoughtful students–as well as your parents, teachers, administrators, community members and other stakeholders–to join in the process of finding solutions for the challenges we face on this and other issues. Our community is filled with smart people with the can-do attitude needed for positive change.

The benefits of adequate sleep are many, among them: more energy, better mood, improved learning, lower rates of obesity, fewer sports injuries and fewer drowsy driving car crashes. Working together we can find that sweet spot in school scheduling to help our students be well-balanced, healthy and happy.