Group's Later School Start Time Task Force Bill Passes House

Now the group is asking for help getting HB 1462 through the Senate.

School Start Times and Crime - What's the Connection?

This parent says we can lower juvenile crime rates by moving school start times.

Maryland Considers Studying Later School Start Times

Howard County school officials are already examining whether it’s a good idea to start high school later.

  A hearing on a bill that would establish a task force to study whether it’s a good idea to start public schools in Maryland later is scheduled for Friday. The bill, HB 1462, comes as school districts across the state, including Howard, Carroll, Anne Arundel and Montgomery counties have studied or are in the midst of examining whether later or different school start times are a good idea, according to the Baltimore Sun. A national group, Start School Later Inc., is among those rallying support for the bill on social media and on blog posts on Patch. Co-Founder Maribel C. Ibrahim wrote on Patch that experts and professionals will be invited to testify Friday on the bill. The Ways and Means committee hearing is scheduled for 1 p.m. Friday. …

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School Start Times: Too Early or Just Right?

The issue of school start times is getting national attention. What do you think?

A movement to push back high school start times so that teens can get more sleep has been brewing across the country and right here in Maryland. In board of education hearings and council meetings from Florida to Minnesota to Washington, parents and students are pleading their cases and governments are taking note. Here in Howard County, the school system has begun a feasibility study and imact anaylsis to tackle the issue of school start times. In December, the Superintendent of Montgomery County Schools established a work group to study the issue and residents of Anne Arundel County have also asked their local officials to consider starting high school later. Take a look at some of those links, sort through the pros, cons, research and …

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School Start Times Under Review for Howard County Schools

What is the relationship between start times and student well-being?

Teenagers need about nine hours of sleep per night, according to the Mayo Clinic. With Howard County high schools starting at 7:25 a.m., how likely is it that students are arriving to school well rested, healthy and prepared for the day ahead? In a statement released this week, the Howard County Public School System (HCPSS) announced it will be taking a “comprehensive look at the opening time of schools and the impact that an early opening has on the health and well-being of high school students."  What do you think? Should high schools start later in the day to accommodate teenagers’ natural sleep cycles? Tell us in the comments. It’s a topic that has been on the agendas of school boards from California to Wisconsin and throughout …

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