Movement to Change School Times Lands in Howard County
A local father says high school students are sleep deprived.
Can you remember a time when you were sleep deprived? Maybe you couldn’t figure out why your house key wouldn’t start the car, or you misspelled your boss’s name? “Any adult can remember a time when we were sleep deprived,” Mark Donovan said. “ We know how it affected us. Why do we not think that it affects our kids the same way?” In fact, said Donovan, a clinical therapist based in Columbia, it does. Donovan has joined a growing movement to push back the start times of high school in an attempt to fix the “chronic sleep deprivation” that many say is evident in teenagers. He has started the Howard County chapter of StartSchoolLater, a national coalition “concerned that children and teenagers required to start the school [day] too early in …
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Kari O
7:39 am on Thursday, February 14, 2013
Also, it turns out that if school starts later, adolescents DO get more sleep. They don't just stay up later with their electronics. Their body clocks still shut down when they're ready to, and then they rest a little longer in the morning (remember, we're not talking about sleeping in until noon, just until a little closer to sunrise). This helps their growing bodies and minds, and keeps their … more ›