Maryland Considers Studying Later School Start Times
Howard County school officials are already examining whether it’s a good idea to start high school later.
A hearing on a bill that would establish a task force to study whether it’s a good idea to start public schools in Maryland later is scheduled for Friday.
The bill, HB 1462, comes as school districts across the state, including Howard, Carroll, Anne Arundel and Montgomery counties have studied or are in the midst of examining whether later or different school start times are a good idea, according to the Baltimore Sun.
A national group, Start School Later Inc., is among those rallying support for the bill on social media and on blog posts on Patch.
Co-Founder Maribel C. Ibrahim wrote on Patch that experts and professionals will be invited to testify Friday on the bill. The Ways and Means committee hearing is scheduled for 1 p.m. Friday.
If approved, the task force would, among other things, study the “effects of sleep deprivation on academic performance” and would examine other school systems that have enacted a later school day.
The task force would make a recommendation on whether public schools should start no later than 8 a.m., according to the proposed bill text.
The Howard County chapter of Start School Later is run by Mark Donovan, a clinical therapist based in Columbia, who also blogs about the issue on Patch.
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In Howard County, high schools begin at 7:25 a.m.
Some people who are not in favor of changing start times say parents should be able to get their kids in bed in time for an early start.
“They have to learn that’s what after high school is,” Verna Schlein wrote on Ellicott City Patch’s Facebook page. “Getting up early and going to work … budgeting sleep, school homework and playtime is part of being an adult."
Donovan has met with members of the Howard County Board of Education and the Howard County Public School System (HCPSS) as they begin a study into “the opening time of schools and the impact that an early opening has on the health and well-being of school students.”
HCPSS is in the earliest stages of a study to determine whether it will change start times; specifically, according to spokesperson Rebecca Amani-Dove, whether elementary schools should start first and high schools last.
See related links:
Movement to Change School Times Lands in Howard County
Starting School Later Busing Options
How Early is Too Early to Head to Class?
School Start Times Under Review for Howard County Schools
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Alissa Arford
12:56 pm on Monday, March 11, 2013
I agree - having middle school and high school start around 7:30 a.m. is really ridiculous. My 12-year-old gets up at 6:15 a.m. to get ready to catch the bus at 7 a.m.... and has lunch at 10:30 a.m. when she is barely hungry. But, when she gets home at 3 p.m. she is starving. Unless she is going to work for the federal gov't on flex time, that kind of schedule isn't preparing her for anything except the routine of excessive afternoon snacking and ruining her dinner.
LG
10:05 am on Tuesday, March 12, 2013
When I need to be up early, I go to be earlier. Not exactly brain surgery people. You can't be on Facebook or catching up with your Twitter feed at midnight (or later for most kids) and expect to be at your best in the early morning hours. When I was in high school, our classes began at 7:45 AM, and my parents (really, both of them!) saw that homework was done and lights out at 10:30 PM at the latest. I didn't necessarily like having to do the "lights out" thing so early, but then again, those were the days when parents were in charge and they didn't expect their children to raise themselves. I'm just sayin'.
Joanne Brazinski
10:29 am on Tuesday, March 12, 2013
A 7:45 start time would be 20 minutes later than classes currently start and a huge improvement.
It's also not about going to bed early. The studies cited by this group show that teen physiology is different from adults; they can GO to bed earlier, but are unlikely to fall asleep. That gains nothing.
The bus comes at 6:56--most of the year, it's not even light yet. I don't like them going out in the dark, half asleep.