Let those teenagers sleep later

I was so upset when the govenor of California shot down what many voters wanted. So much data shows teens need more sleep and later start times.

I love late start Tuesday because dd starts school at 8:36 instead of 7:30!!!

She is more alert, happier, less stressed...

Jr high here starts at 8:45. Elementary between 7:50 and 8:20.

If jr highs start so late, why cant high schools???

The reason our districts say they can't let all grades have later start times is the number of buses needed.  They use most of the buses for 2 grades, in that they drop off the high-schoolers and then go pick up the grade-schoolers because the start times are staggered.

I wish my teen could start later. First period is 7:35 am.

Thankfully my school district moved to this years ago (although your article is new the whole concept of later school starts for teens isn't new) -- we also have the bus issue, which I'm sure affects all school districts since I'm not sure any district is wealthy enough to have dedicated buses for each level..? -- Anyway, they flipped around ours and they put middle school earliest at around 7:30, then elementary at around 8:00 (some start a bit later), then high school at 8:40-ish. I still had to pry my son out of bed but at least it wasn't pitch dark outside.  

I agree about it hard to move when it is pitch dark.  Not only that, it is dangerous!!  I saw a couple high school kids nearly hit by a car when they, walking like zombies, staggered right in front of a moving car one morning in the dark. 

Our town did this in time for DS's senior year, and while it was a bus cluster$uck for a while until some of the logistical problems were ironed out, we and he saw the benefits, especially since he is a night owl like me.

This is very real for DD12's school district. They've been debating this for years and the board made the decision earlier this year to push back Middle School and High School start times for most of our schools. Most of the non-magnet MS and HS go 7:30-2 and the most of the elementary schools start at 9 or later. They decided to have MS and HS go 8:30-3 and adjust the ES times earlier. The reason and also the challenge, like another poster cited is bussing. In order to push back the MS and HS and not pay a lot more for bussing, the ES has to start earlier. Most of the EM school parents are not happy about this - understandably they don't want their younger kids out waiting for the bus often in the dark and extreme MN cold. However others are supportive as a lot of people start work before school starts right now, so they pay for before care. It has been a heated discussion. And even though it's been decided for almost six months, it keeps coming up. I saw the article that the OP referenced in a lengthy Nextdoor post for our neighborhood after the district sent out a recap email for the year and reminded everyone of next year's start time changes.

So next year DD will be in 8th and for that and high school she will go 8:30-3. And she trains at her circus arts school most evenings, the extra hour will be appreciated, however she'll have one less hour after school to get homework done. We will see how it goes!

Our high school starts classes at 9:00. They made the switch to that back when my kids were in elementary school. K-4, and 9-10 (our elementary and high school grades) start at 9, and use the same bussing routes. The 5-9 grades start at 8:00 and use the same bussing routes. It was mainly done this way for the bussing, but also to give the youngest and the oldest more time in the mornings.

In our school district, they changed the time this year. So we used to be 7:30am-2:30pm. We live 30 min. away so our bus came at 6:30am. This year they start at 8:15 and get out at 2:39. The kids love it because their day is shorter than before! But several years ago they added 6 days to the school year, so they are still getting their hours in.