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Science teacher Cindy Jatul’s first-period class is nothing like the rest of the classes she teaches at Roosevelt High School.
It doesn’t matter what subject she’s teaching or which students are enrolled. Year after year, most of her students in first period aren’t quite awake.
“They don’t engage,” she said. “They don’t say anything. They are like bumps on a log.”
The students in later periods engage remarkably better with the same material. What’s she seeing isn’t a reflection on the work ethic or ability of her first-period students. It’s biology.
Right around puberty, teenagers experience a shift in their circadian rhythm. Many have trouble falling asleep until later at night and wake up later the next morning. Research indicates that when schools start too early, students end up chronically sleep-deprived. That affects health, safety and academic performance.
Seattle Public Schools is one of many school districts nationwide considering whether to start middle and high school later. The Seattle school board agreed to form a task force to study the issue after parents and teachers asked the district to change.
Jatul is leading the charge as president of the Seattle chapter of Start School Later. More than 4,000 people signed a petition she started asking the school district to start middle and high schools no earlier than 8:30 a.m. Now, many of those schools start before 8 a.m.
She’s been advocating for later start times for three years. It’s something she and other Roosevelt teachers tried unsuccessfully to change at their own school. She decided to take the issue to the district partly after watching her own daughter’s sleep habits shift in middle school: Suddenly she couldn’t fall asleep until 11 p.m. and was grumpy and tired in the mornings.
“A lot of people will say they need to buck up. They have to learn how to get up because that’s how the work world is,” Jatul said. “All of those are not well-thought-out answers. They deny the biological changes that occur.”
Starting school later is one of the simplest, most cost-effective ways to improve the health of teenagers, said Dr. Nathaniel Watson, a neurologist at the University of Washington School of Medicine and president-elect of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine.
“There’s a real opportunity to make an impact on adolescents’ lives by delaying start times to allow them to get enough sleep,” he said.
Teenagers need at least nine hours of sleep for optimal health, said Watson. While parents can do things to help teens sleep better, such as limiting access to television and the Internet, telling a teen to go to bed earlier doesn’t solve the problem if he isn’t tired.
The American Academy of Pediatrics released a policy statement in August recommending that middle and high schools should start no earlier than 8:30 a.m., and urging school districts to “aim for start times that allow students the opportunity to achieve optimal levels of sleep.”
Studies show that adolescents who don’t get enough sleep suffer physical and mental health problems, an increased risk of automobile accidents and a decline in academic performance, according to the policy statement.
While no one seems to disagree that later start times are better for adolescents, that doesn’t mean the idea isn’t being met with resistance.
A spokeswoman for Seattle Public Schools declined to comment on the issue. In a prepared statement, the district said, “Flipping bell times is a complex task and has a significant effect on families and schools. Staff will work to engage all families throughout the district.”
Starting school later can make it more difficult to schedule afterschool activities, especially sports, Jatul said.
By far the biggest challenge is transportation. Seattle Public Schools starts elementary, middle and high schools at different times to save money on buses. One of the ideas under consideration is swapping the start times of high school with elementary schools, which typically start later.
Research shows that younger children tend to have earlier alert times, Jatul said. Parents of younger children may not like that option. Start Schools Later polled 700 parents of elementary students and found that for the majority of those who responded, 7:30 a.m. was too early, although 8 a.m. would be acceptable.
The answer may be that schools and the state need to pay for more buses.
“If our transportation is creating sleep deprivation, which is creating learning problems and health issues, we need to address that we have adequate funds to support transportation,” Jatul said.
The Seatttle school board has formed a task force to examine the issue for a year. Jatul is a member of that task force, along with other district staff, community members and parents. Members will review the sleep research and study potential implementation impacts, including benefits and challenges for starting elementary schools earlier and middle and high schools later.
They’ll deliver their findings to the superintendent, who in turn will make recommendations to the school board.
This isn’t the only school scheduling issue of concern to parents. A separate group, Lunch & Recess Matter, is trying to get the district to increase the amount of time children have to eat and play at school.
