The Triton School board has recently been debating over whether or not the start of the school day should be delayed due to a study that shows sleep deprivation in teenagers is a result of early school start.

“I think this is a very good idea because all studies show high school students need more sleep,” says Tim Ruggere.

Research shows that the biology of a teenage brain is in conflict with the early school start time. Teenagers, on average, need at least 8-10 hours of sleep a night and do not begin to feel sleepy until around 10:45 which means the healthiest wake up time for teens should be after 7a.m. 

Sleep is commonly known as food for the brain and is a vital part of a teen’s developing brain. Not getting enough sleep can cause students to feel moody, perform badly in school and during sports, and can even cause students to look bad.

Sleepiness can limit students ability to learn, listen, concentrate and solve problems. It can even cause teens to forget important information like homework, names, and numbers.

Drowsiness doesn’t just affect a teenager in school but affects their bodies and health. It can lead to acne, weight gain, illness, can increase the use of caffeine and nicotine, and can heighten the effects of alcohol.

After sitting down with Mr. Ruggere, Triton High school’s Principal, he tells us the steps he would have to take to initiate this change. First he says, we would need to start an interest survey that will tell who is for or against this plan. If everyone is all on board, then a study would be performed in order to find out how this affected other districts that made this change. Then, a discussion would have to be had with the school union, administration would have to talk guidance about how this would affect the school schedule and a conversation with the Athletic Director to see how this would affect sports.

Ultimately, Mr. Ruggere explains that the idea is to flip the elementary school schedule with the middle and high school schedule. Meaning the buses would pick up the elementary schoolers first and bring them to school to start at 7:42 and then come pick up the middle and high schoolers to start school at 8:42. Then in the afternoon the elementary schoolers will leave school at 2:13 and high school and middle school would leave at 3:13.

Mrs. Mary Goldsmith, Triton High school’s school nurse who sees students coming into school tired and fatigued every day, believes that starting school later would be a great health benefit to the students here at Triton. The only draw back she sees to this is that the students schedules will have a more congested schedule in the evening between  sports, homework, and dinner, which might just mean getting to bed later.

“High school students just aren’t awake in the morning and getting more sleep is imperative for your health,” says Mrs.Goldsmith.

Mr. Ruggere also said he believes this is a very good idea because all studies show that students in their high school years need more sleep and the younger kids (elementary schoolers) do not which is why flipping the bus schedules works better for everyone.

Sophomores Erin Gershuny, Maggie Bowen, and Kaelyn Scalley were are all for starting the school day later at first but the more they thought about it they could each see some draw backs:

Gershuny said she likes how we would no longer be going to bed late and waking up early but doesn’t like how it could possibly affect sports.

Bowen said she thinks it’s better for us to go to school later so we get more sleep and teens aren’t driving to school tired in the mornings.

Scalley said she likes the idea of sleeping in later but decided changing the start of school wouldn’t really make a difference because she will end up going to bed later.

Sophomores Kayla Perley and Page Eiras both agree it would be nice to wake up later but not to get out of school later.

As of now Mr. Regere tells us that the school board is not leaning one way or another. He also said they are all bright people who will make the best decision for everyone.

Information found on the conversation.com and sleepfoundation.org.