Later Start Time for Palm Beach County Florida High School Students

  • by: Marty Weinstein
  • recipient: Palm Beach County Florida School Board and School Superintendant

Most high schools in Palm Beach County start at 7:30, resulting in sleep deprivation for our children.  This negatively impacts their physical and mental health, their academic success, and their safety (as drivers).

The American Academy of Pediatrics has recently issued a policy statement recommending that high schools start no earlier that 8:30, to prevent sleep deprivation and the related negative impacts noted above. 

We call upon the Palm Beach County School Board and the School Superintendant to address and fix this serious problem by changing high school start times to 8:30 by the beginning of the next school year. 

School Board Members and Superintendent Gent,  


On Monday, the American Academy of Pediatrics issued a policy statement saying that insufficient sleep affects the physical and mental health, safety (as drivers), and academic success of our teenagers.  They specifically recommend that school start times be no earlier that 8:30.  This has received a lot of media attention.


We understand that most high schools in Palm Beach County start at 7:30.  In the interest of our Palm Beach County students and in light of the concerns documented by the American Academy of Pediatrics, the School Board and the Superintendent should do everything possible to change high school start times in Palm Beach County to 8:30 or later by the beginning of the next school year.     As parents, we do not want to jeopardize our children's physical and mental health, their academic development, and their safety as drivers, due to sleep deprivation caused by early high school start times.  We entrust the School Board and the Superintendent to protect the well-being of our children by addressing and fixing this problem.    Attached below is the abstract from the Policy Statement by the American Academy of Pediatrics. 


POLICY STATEMENT School Start Times for Adolescents


abstract


The American Academy of Pediatrics recognizes insufficient sleep in adolescents as an important public health issue that significantly affects the health and safety, as well as the academic success, of our nation’s middle and high school students. Although a number of factors, including biological changes in sleep associated with puberty, lifestyle choices, and academic demands, negatively affect middle and high school students’ ability to obtain sufficient sleep, the evidence strongly implicates earlier school start times (ie, before 8:30 AM) as a key modifiable contributor to insufficient sleep, as well as circadian rhythm disruption, in this population. Furthermore, a substantial body of research has now demonstrated that delaying school start times is an effective countermeasure to chronic sleep loss and has a wide range of potential benefits to students with regard to physical and mental health, safety, and academic achievement. The American Academy of Pediatrics strongly supports the efforts of school districts to optimize sleep in students and urges high schools and middle schools to aim for start times that allow students the opportunity to achieve optimal levels of sleep (8.5–9.5 hours) and to improve physical (eg, reduced obesity risk) and mental (eg, lower rates of depression) health, safety (eg, drowsy driving crashes), academic performance, and quality of life. Pediatrics 2014;134:642–649

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