Tim Pritchett, the district’s public relations officer, said that could change.
“We are currently evaluating possible scenarios to change the school day for the 2015-16 school year,” he said in an email. “We hope to have a decision in early 2016.”
Right now, MCCSC elementary schools begin at 8:35 a.m. every day except Wednesday, when they begin at 9:35 a.m. Middle and high schools begin at 7:40 a.m. normally and at 8:25 a.m. on Wednesdays.
The CDC recommends adolescents get 8.5 to 9.5 hours of sleep per night. But according to another CDC report, two out of three high school students don’t get enough sleep.
Starting school later isn’t that simple, though. School districts have to consider a number of factors, including how busing schedules and extracurricular activities would be affected. Athletic practices and other extracurriculars would end later, and that could lead to students staying up even longer to finish homework.
Nicholas Ford, a student at Bloomington High School South, said it’s hard for him to get enough sleep. If he wants eight hours, he has to fall asleep by 10 p.m.
For a high school student, that often isn’t possible. Denise Wardlow, a South Elementary School teacher in Martinsville, Indiana, watched three sons go through high school. She said it was difficult for them to go to bed on time.
“It’s physically almost impossible for them to go to sleep early, whether they had anything going on or not,” Wardlow said. “It seems like during the teenage years, their clocks reset and they’re nocturnal.”
Now Wardlow teaches second grade students. They’re a different story, she said. Seven- and eight-year-olds have an easier time falling asleep and waking up early, and their school’s start time — 9 a.m. for Metropolitan School District of Martinsville elementary schools — is adequate. But she said she thinks secondary schools could start a little later so students can get more sleep.
On Wednesdays, when MCCSC high school classes begin 45 minutes later, Ford said the day is a little easier.
“I feel more natural going to school on Wednesdays than (the rest of the week),” he said.
On other school days, though, Ford said many students start to feel sluggish in the afternoon and are more likely to doze off in class.
“I think it’s normal to feel tired in school — you have to get up at 7:40 a.m. and stay functioning mentally until 2:55 p.m.,” Ford said,
He said he hopes MCCSC decides to push back high school start times. Even an extra 30 minutes would have a positive influence and wouldn’t affect athletics, he said.
Wardlow agreed a change is necessary but acknowledged the problem is hard to solve.
“I’m a big proponent for starting later at the upper grades,” she said.
