Earlier this month, the Senate Education Committee passed a bill that would have state education officials study an issue of great interest to the parents of middle and high school students — school start time. Sen. and former Gov. Richard Codey is sponsoring this legislation. He told NJTV News Anchor Mary Alice Williams that starting school after 8:30 a.m. has many benefits for students.
Codey said when teenagers begin the school day between 7:15 and 7:45 a.m., absentee rates and tardiness increase while the average grades for the first two classes of the day go down, as do national test scores, and moodiness increases. He said studies have shown when the school day starts later, absenteeism and tardiness go down and the grades in the first two courses go up.
“They’ll tell you that scientifically that the average teenager needs a minimum of nine hours of sleep per night. And it’s not as simple as saying, ‘Oh, you gotta go to bed earlier.’ For whatever reason — and I didn’t know it when I was a teenager and my dad would say, ‘Hey, get out of bed. You’re lazy’ — they can’t go to bed at 9. Their biological clock doesn’t work that way,” Codey said. “So they go to bed usually at 11 or so and they’re getting up six hours later and they’re not doing well at school at all. And incidental to this is teen car crashes when they go later are down as well.”
Some have raised concerns about after school programs like sports and how they would be affected by a later start time, but Codey doesn’t believe that will be a problem. “That is a bogus issue. The only time that would affect anything is late fall and that’s like field hockey and soccer. I think it’s malarkey. It’s not part of the equation,” he said. “That two weeks when the clock changes, you gotta play a little earlier, is gonna keep us, these kids from doing the best they can?”
Another issue is with parents who say they want to get their children to school before they have to be at work. Codey said parents’ schedules shouldn’t determine what’s best for the students. He also suggested that the younger students — who need less sleep and go to bed earlier — can start the school day earlier than the older students. That way bus schedules can still be staggered.
Codey expects the bill, which calls for a study into this issue, to pass.
The Pemberton school district pushed its start time back several years ago, but was forced to move it back up because of parents’ complaints. Aside from those complaints, Codey said it was a success. “But they did find absenteeism down, tardiness down, grades in the first two courses up,” he said.
Going forward, Codey hopes start time changes can be made. “It’s not easy, but we have to understand what is best for your children going forward as good students in society,” he said.