Expierence

Between juggling his school day, play and musical practices, a job and homework, the North High School senior said some days he is more tired than others, but heâs always kind of sleepy.

âNo matter how long I sleep, I feel like I never catch up,â he said.

Research and common sense prove many teens struggle to roll out of bed around 6 a.m. to get on the bus or arrive at school on time. That was a recent message from U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, who said it would benefit teenagers to start school at a later time so they are better prepared to learn and concentrate. Confessing he isnât afraid to sometimes hit the snooze button, Ball estimates he goes to sleep around 11 p.m. or midnight, often later during strenuous play and musical rehearsals, and receives on average five or six hours of rest. Ball wakes up around 6 a.m. and aims to be at school between 6:50 and 7 a.m. When staying at his dadâs house, Ball leaves around 6:15 a.m. to get to school on time. He doesnât usually drink caffeine in the morning, instead powering up with something like yogurt or Pop Tarts.

âI can usually wake up enough by the time Iâm in class to understand what is going on,â he said. âAnd if itâs a subject that I really do need to work on, that I know I am having trouble in, then Iâll make sure and be completely aware of whatâs going on so I can understand what theyâre talking about and learn as much as possible.â

Students riding the bus to North are dropped off about 7 a.m., when they quickly fill the food court/commons area before the bell rings at 7:35 a.m. signaling the start of the day.

Teenagers require between 8.5 and 9.25 hours of sleep, said Dr. John Rodrigues, medical director of St. Maryâs sleep disorder center, but the problem with teenage sleep is their onset doesnât naturally occur until around 11 p.m. Rodrigues said many studies have been conducted in countries to try to define the reason, and some say it could be cultural pressures that cause teens to stay awake later.

However, Rodrigues said the melatonin biologically secreted before a person falls asleep happens later in teenagers, which explains the times they tend to fall asleep. If a high schooler falls asleep at 11 p.m., ideally he would not wake until 8 a.m., he said.

âThatâs not in sync because we are demanding that our kids wake up earlier in the morning to get to school, and then they end up being sleepy during the first couple classes and then they end up having problems,â he said. âThe logistics of doing it make it difficult, but I donât think itâs impossible. Thereâs enough research saying this should be done, itâs just getting it done that becomes a problem.â

Rodrigues compared teenagers âcatching upâ on sleep during the weekends to starving your body of nutrients during the week and then gorging on food over the weekend.

âMy kids have grown up, but I clearly remember on weekends how late they would be sleeping,â he said. âAnd my wife would say, âIs this something that we should be allowing them to do?â And the thing is that sleeping late on weekends is not a symptom of laziness, itâs a symptom of the fact that the kids are not getting enough sleep during the week so they are trying to catch up on weekends. Which is something that the body will naturally make you do, but it is certainly not ideal.â

When the Minneapolis Public School District pushed start times in seven high schools back from 7:15 a.m. to 8:40 a.m., researchers at the University of Minnesota found students gained about an hour of sleep a day. They also found an increase in attendance and alertness.

Rehearsals for Northâs fall play currently consume much of Ballâs evenings. When heâs not rehearsing or doing activities for choir, he works at Mikeâs Car Wash at least 15 hours a week, sometimes 25. During a typical week, Ball said he spends about 10-15 hours on extra curricular activities, works part time and has to stay on top of finishing homework.

In the weeks leading up to performance nights, Ball said he wonât get home from rehearsal until 11 p.m., then he completes homework so he can get to sleep as soon as possible. Ballâs stepmom, Tiffany Ball, said that during the super busy months sometimes he doesnât get to bed until 1:30 a.m.

As a way to juggle life, Ball makes it a point to plan out his free time so he knows exactly what he should finish and when. Preferring to start his day with classes like Chemistry II or science, Ball said once a week his chemistry class will have an early morning lab that starts at 6:45 a.m. If there comes a day that Ball isnât completely awake for a class, he said he will get extra help so he doesnât fall behind or get confused.

IMPACTS

Many factors play a part in the school day in what some may consider a simple time change, including extracurricular activities, money and travel time especially when local school districts are in a different time MPCforum, just to name a few.

Evansville Vanderburgh School Corp. Superintendent David Smith said discussions around school start times have occurred, but both operational and academic perspectives are a factor. He noted many concerns, including teenagers that care for younger siblings after school â so if high school starts and ends later, who could care for those children while parents are still at work?

âThoughtful decision making means that a school district would need to investigate and work to mitigate any unintended consequences and to make sure that research that has been done, is what it seems,â Smith said.

Smith said things like the number of miles driven per bus route, the cost of transportation per student, bus fleet and driver pool sizes need to be investigated. While bus schedules should not determine the school day, Smith said âthe reality is that the state of Indiana is decreasing significantly the funding level for bus transportation, causing districts to have to pay strict attention to the routing of buses and the pairing of bus schedules to operate as efficiently as possible.â

Being a father to a middle and high school student, as well as serving as Northâs principal, John Skinner can understand both sides of the issue. He said a long time ago North considered changing their start and end times.

âIâm more of a late riser, but I also like getting the day done ... you start early, but you get out early,â Skinner said.

As a dad, Skinner said he thinks school start times are âawful early for kidsâ because they often have activities and jobs after school causing them to get home late and still have homework to finish. And in the wintertime, students depart for school when itâs still dark outside.

However, playing his principal role, Skinner said that to get the school hours in and to have time to also offer extracurricular activities, thereâs not much that can be changed about school start times. Skinner noted concerns like the cost of bus transportation because a certain fleet of buses is shared between elementary, middle and high schools; many buses even have to run multiple routes.

For after-school athletics, Skinner said officials are ârunning on daylightâ and referenced his girlâs golf team that recently left school about 15 minutes early and traveled to Vincennes to get a 9-hole round in before dark. If school ended later, Skinner said teams would need to leave school even earlier and may miss an entire class.

Although he doesnât dispute research,

Warrick County School Corp. Superintendent

Brad Schneider said itâs a bit of a Catch-22 because later end times mean students get home later and will either have to stay up late or rise earlier to complete homework. Noting their primary responsibility is to educate students, Schneider is a big proponent of the lessons learned through extracurricular functions â being part of a team, preparing to do your best, practicing and working to accomplish both individual and team goals â that produce well-rounded young adults.

Schneider would be cautious to change school start times in efforts to prevent the reduction of extracurriculars. A needed lesson for students that applies to everything in life is to know their schedule and do whatever possible to abide by that, he said.

âA lot of what we do is habit,â he said. âSo you have to teach your body to go to bed at a decent hour, to get the proper rest. If school starts early, youâve conditioned your mind and body to perform at a high level and I think that to some extent can be true of middle and high school kids. Thereâs some responsibility the individual has to take for getting proper rest and getting to bed at a respectful hour so they can get the appropriate sleep.â

Metropolitan School District of Mount Vernon Superintendent

Tom Kopatich said he believes mimicking typical work hours, like 8 to 5, is valid for school because it prepares students for the workforce. Kopatich said athletics in his district are switching to having more games during the weekend instead of the week, and noted his boys basketball teams now have few games on Tuesday nights.

âI think we need to prepare them for what theyâre going to be doing after high school, if they join the workforce right away or college,â he said.

OPINIONS

The EVSC uses professional development and initiatives like Response to Intervention, which provide different techniques for every student to help them learn in their own way, to improve student success.

Despite having a nontraditional learning environment, EVSC Virtual Academy director Janet Leistner said she still encourages her students to get up early, no later than 8 or 8:30 a.m., to start working on their lessons. Leistner said itâs important because if students sleep later and donât log onto the network to complete work, distractions come along throughout the day preventing them from doing so.

The Virtual Academy, available to K-12 students, was launched in June 2010 as a supplemental program to allow students to earn credits and a diploma through online courses led by licensed EVSC teachers using content from Apex Learning Inc.

âWhile the start time might be somewhat later, we really do encourage our kids to have a regular school schedule when they are a home school student. ... Life is where we have to get up and get on a schedule, so while we let them design it, we want them to have a regular school day setting.â

Skinner said many supporters will claim those students who are habitually tardy for school will arrive on time if the day starts later.

He disagrees.

âIf we have a two-hour delay or late start, those typically late people are still late,â Skinner said. âAnd we have people everywhere in the world that way.â

Ball said heâs taken time to really consider school start times and the benefits or setbacks that come along with it. He has friends and family in Michigan that go to school from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., and he said by the time they get home around 5 p.m. or later, they barely have time to do much outside of homework.

âI really like our start times where they are now. ... Yes, itâs kind of hard getting up in the morning sometimes, and itâs harder for some, but I personally am fine with it. It is kind of a trouble sometimes when itâs around the time of the musical, but itâs well worth it.â

Schneider said he doesnât know anyone who wouldnât prefer to lie in bed longer until they felt like waking up. However, the current school schedules in place work, so why change it?

âIf something was going to change, that needs to be something that as an area we determine is important to do,â he said. âBecause if just a few schools change their start times, thatâs going to have impacts on everyone else. I donât know if it would be worth all of that.â

Megan Erbacher can be reached at erbacherm@ , 812-464-7501 or on Twitter at @ECP_Erbacher.

___

School day hours for local high schools

* Evansville Vanderburgh School Corp.

Academy for Innovative Studies, First Avenue Campus: 7:45 a.m. to 2:55 p.m.

Academy for Innovative Studies Diamond Avenue Campus: 7:55 a.m. to 1:55 p.m.

Bosse High School: 7:40 a.m. to 2:40 p.m.

Central High School: 7:35 a.m. to 2:45 p.m.

Harrison High School: 7:35 a.m. to 2:40 p.m.

New Tech Institute: 7:40 a.m. to 2:25 p.m.

North High School: 7:35 a.m. to 2:45 p.m.

Reitz High School: 7:40 a.m. to 2:50 p.m.

Southern Indiana Career & Technical Center: 7:40 a.m. to 2:25 p.m.

Virtual Academy: Not applicable

* Warrick County School Corp.

Boonville High School: 7:40 a.m. to 2:45 p.m.

Castle High School: 7:35 a.m. to 2:40 p.m.

Tecumseh High School: 7:45 a.m. to 2:55 p.m.

* Metropolitan School District of Mount Vernon

Mount Vernon Senior High School: 8:05 a.m. to 3:05 p.m.

tiffany

Discuss

Print

tiffany

Also in Local News - In Print

More

Early rain possible in Evansville area today

VNA Plus marks 125th anniversary | GALLERY

Toys for Tots leader named coordinator of the year

Comments » 14

September 15, 2013

7:46 a.m.

Suggest removal

Reply to this post

Blackhorse writes:

wholesale tiffany jewelry Leave it to the Academic Airheads to mess things up. If you go to Academic Airhead Capitol of Indiana (Bloomington), you will find start times really screwed up. A couple of days a week the students will start at 8:15 the other days they might start at 7:45. A typical family of 4 kids may be picked up by 3 different buses in front of their house. It is terrible for a working family to comply with the Academic Airhead Mentality.

September 15, 2013

8:32 a.m.

Suggest removal

Reply to this post

gbnf3812 writes:

cheap tiffany Stop doing so much extra curriculars and go to bed earlier.

tiffany & co Problem solved! And...

cheap tiffany & co jewelry Doctors consulted: 0 School administrators consulted: 0 Federal government bureaucrats consulted: 0

September 15, 2013

9:03 a.m.

Suggest removal

Reply to this post

greystonedream writes:

in response to gbnf3812 :

Stop doing so much extra curriculars and go to bed earlier.

Problem solved! And...

Doctors consulted: 0 School administrators consulted: 0 Federal government bureaucrats consulted: 0

If only it could be that easy. From the time they enter high school, students are told that in order to be competitive for acceptance into a good/great college, their applications should be as well rounded as possible. Not only must they have above average grades, their applications should reflect a long and varied list of their involvement in extra curricular activities, volunteer projects and community activism. A lot of these kids come from situations where a scholarship is their only hope of going on to college, so they have to stand out. That means sacrificing sleep for the sake of a dream. Granted not all high school students lack sleep for the sake of college aspirations; some are just up playing video games all night. Those kind are just making poor choices.

September 15, 2013

9:35 a.m.

Suggest removal

Reply to this post

Hickeyboys_Daddy writes:

in response to gbnf3812 :

Stop doing so much extra curriculars and go to bed earlier.

Problem solved! And...

Doctors consulted: 0 School administrators consulted: 0 Federal government bureaucrats consulted: 0

Plus 1

Get to bed at a decent time above all else. You can't function well without getting enough sleep.

September 15, 2013

9:58 a.m.

Suggest removal

Reply to this post

conservative_radical writes:

Brad Schneider: âA lot of what we do is habit,â he said. âSo you have to teach your body to go to bed at a decent hour, to get the proper rest. If school starts early, youâve conditioned your mind and body to perform at a high level and I think that to some extent can be true of middle and high school kids. Thereâs some responsibility the individual has to take for getting proper rest and getting to bed at a respectful hour so they can get the appropriate sleep.â

The problem with this view is that one cannot "train" the body's physiology; there is a biologic basis for the internal clock of adolescents to be different from an adult's body. It can't be forced.

September 15, 2013

10:06 a.m.

Suggest removal

Reply to this post

indianajones1 writes:

" Early to Bed, early to rise makes a man"... well you know... Life is full of tough choices.. from the age of 2 kids never want to nap or go to bed when they should-- thats why we have parents.

September 15, 2013

11:38 a.m.

Suggest removal

Reply to this post

usiguy07 writes:

Pushing start times back will only make the kids go to bed later. They will still have the same amount of work to do but will have an hour less at the end of the day. You just have to learn to balance things. I often hear people complain about how much their kids have to do and that there isn't enough time to do it. Yet half of their activities are optional. Point being that most kids need to narrow down their extra curriculars.

September 15, 2013

3:14 p.m.

Suggest removal

Reply to this post

Youcanrunandtellthat writes:

Signature School's start time is 8:30 a.m.

September 15, 2013

3:30 p.m.

Suggest removal

Reply to this post

LatigoAbendigo24#254608 writes:

Who gives a damn?

September 15, 2013

3:56 p.m.

Suggest removal

Reply to this post

etaxpayer writes:

17 ugh time to man up

September 15, 2013

8:27 p.m.

Suggest removal

Reply to this post

T-TIME writes:

the liberal woosifacation of america what a disgrace........wahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

September 15, 2013

8:52 p.m.

Suggest removal

Reply to this post

MTOne writes:

Ask students what they do when a two hour delay has been declared; they stay up later. As Skinner stated, the ones who are typically late on a regular start time day are also late on a two hour delay day, even though they've had extra time to get up, get their cars cleared off, and get to school at a leisurely pace.

If a student's so overscheduled that he doesn't have enough hours in the day to do everything, then the parent should step in and help cull the hours.

September 15, 2013

9:44 p.m.

Suggest removal

Reply to this post

gravedigger writes:

I don't see why school needs to start so early, but I also don't think that's the whole issue.

The public school system has bowed down and made changes that are not conducive to learning, like more administrative time and days off, a school calendar that starts in the middle of August and ends early May, eliminated physical fitness classes, etc...

September 16, 2013

2:57 a.m.

Suggest removal

Reply to this post

Itsthespending writes:

If you start school later, you get done later, extra-curricular activities and practices start and end later, you get you homework done later, and go to bed later. So nothing will change.

Share your thoughts

Comments are the sole responsibility of the person posting them. You agree not to post comments that are off topic, defamatory, obscene, abusive, threatening or an invasion of privacy. Violators may be banned. Click here for our full user agreement .

Username * Don't have an account? Sign up for a new account

Password * Can't remember? Reset your password

Comment

Comments can be shared on

Facebook

and

Yahoo!.

Add both options by connecting your profiles .

Zaloguj się

Expierence

Owl City feat. Carly Rae Jepsen – Good Time ( Dj Sequence Remix )

629 komentarzy

Rekomendowane komentarze

ickjesullagull 0

ickjesullagull 0

ickjesullagull 0

ickjesullagull 0

ickjesullagull 0

ickjesullagull 0

ickjesullagull 0

ickjesullagull 0

ickjesullagull 0

ickjesullagull 0

ickjesullagull 0

ickjesullagull 0

ickjesullagull 0

ickjesullagull 0

ickjesullagull 0

ickjesullagull 0

ickjesullagull 0

ickjesullagull 0

ickjesullagull 0

ickjesullagull 0

ickjesullagull 0

ickjesullagull 0

ickjesullagull 0

ickjesullagull 0

ickjesullagull 0

Jeśli chcesz dodać odpowiedź, zaloguj się lub zarejestruj nowe konto

Zarejestruj nowe konto

Zaloguj się