Village 14 regular Jeffrey Pontiff, who is a director of the group newtonhighschools.com, submitted this.
The Newton City Council will consider a citizens’ petition (246-7) tonight (Monday Oct. 16) which reads:
“The City Council acknowledges the scientifically documented benefits of a later high school start time. The Council recognizes the paramount importance of the health and well-being of children, and as such supports the Newton Public Schools in taking action to delay high school start times.”
The petition is organized by newtonhighschools.com, an organization that advocates for a later high school start time. During earlier deliberations by the Programs and Services committee, Dr. Christopher Landrigan, a pediatrician and professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, summarized the medical evidence.
How should the council vote on this petition? Is this even the council’s business?
I’m torn. I think it’s somewhat outside the scope of City Council, but at the same time the school committee and Fleishman have been hemming and hawing about this for SO long that maybe this will help make some progress.
It’s less off-the-mark than many of the issues taken up by this oh-so-august body. Baby steps.
It was great to attend (and speak at) the P&S committee meeting two weeks ago. I hope the City Council will vote to keep the pressure on the School Committee to make this change.
I am happy that many of my fellow School Committee candidates are now talking about the importance of starting school later (as recommended by the AAP & CDC). A big change from two years ago, when I stood alone!
Newton residents owe a great deal of respect to the folks over at newtonhighschools.com – They have worked tirelessly to keep this issue in the limelight.
As a relatively recent South grad, I urge the City Council to strongly support the petition. Student stress at South during my time was at extremely unhealthy levels, and every piece of scientific evidence points to the current South schedule not aligning with a teenager’s internal body clock. There was strong sense within the South student body that no one really cared about student stress and it was mostly just lip service, some movement on this issue would do wonder to reverse that depressing sentiment.
Where does the teachers union stand on school start times?
Seems to me that if the Council decides to weigh in, they should weigh in a major aspect of the issue that involves them: reaffirming budget support for the additional costs any time shift would incur. This is a public health issue as much as it is a schools issue and should not be borne solely at the sacrifice of other school priorities. (I think the same is true for lead abatement in the schools and parks.)
I am also somewhat disappointed that the “kids need more sleep” topic has remained focused almost exclusively on high school start times, when (as Dr. Landrigan’s testimony supports) other issues such as blue light and screen time may also contribute to changes in sleep patterns. A family education campaign tied to these environmental effects and sleep in general could be started almost immediately because it wouldn’t involve the logistics and costs that changing school start times requires.
We shouldn’t lose sight of the bigger picture.
The School Committee needs to say either YES or NO. No more kicking down the road. Making decisions isn’t easy but this has been discussed for years.
Colleen, – the very few teachers I have heard at South don’t want the change due to increases in traffic and a shift in their childcare needs. (Interesting that the high school student’s health is not part of that decision.)
@ Mike Hall, You can look at technology, but I think the problem is much more broad. I can only speak anecdotally, but I was in high school in the mid/late 90s – pre-smartphone, without a TV or computer in my room. I used to sit in bed for HOURS, unable to fall asleep and I know many of my peers had the same issue. I would read or write in my diary to kill time, which makes me wonder if maybe some kids are looking at their smartphones in bed BECAUSE they can’t sleep. Delayed phase sleep disorder is very common among teenagers.
Along with Jeffrey, I am one of the lead signatories on this petition.
Mike Halle is right, this is a public health issue affecting up to 4000 Newton residents a year and not simply a schools issue. The lead author of the American Academy of Pediatrics Policy Statement on School Start Times for Adolescents has stated that
Given the importance of this public health issue, all branches of Newton government should take a leadership role and voice their support for addressing the “epidemic” of chronic sleep loss in teens. I hope we hear strong support from the City Council tonight.
After all these years of being an advocate for later start times, I still don’t think most parents understand how serious a health problem sleep deprivation is for teen students. I remember the mass freak-out when asbestos was discovered in the old NNHS. More recently, the anger after lead was discovered in the drinking water of Newton schools. But for whatever reason, sleep deprivation just doesn’t seem to trigger the same fear in parents as asbestos and lead… It should!
A recent study of 28,000 suburban high school students found that each hour of lost sleep is associated with a 38% increased risk of depression, and a whopping 58% increase in suicide attempts…
Those are two reasons why health experts have been calling for later high school start times for years. It’s why the American Academy of Pediatrics and Centers for Disease control long ago joined that call. But the Newton School Committee thinks they know better. Parents should be outraged!!
The School Committee has proven they are incapable of effectively dealing with the start time issue. Will this initiative before the City Council actually help solve the problem? Well, it sure won’t hurt. But I think our next Mayor has an even better opportunity to finally initiate a change in high school start times…
Our City Charter gives the Mayor autonomous authority over all municipal buildings including school buildings. The Mayor has the ability to determine what time any City owned building opens its doors in the morning. [This power would remain unchanged by the new proposed Charter]. The next Mayor should make it crystal clear to the School Committee that he/she will change the time that the two high school buildings open, if they fail to change the time that school starts…
I’ve outlined how I think this change could be initiated in time for the next school year. Both remaining mayoral candidates have acknowledged the negative impact of early morning start times on our teen students. Let’s see if either one of them is willing to actually fix this problem.
Cyrus spoke at the P&S meeting and did an incredible job. I hope everyone who cares about this issue visits his website. No other School Committee candidate has emphasized the issue of high school start times more than Cyrus.
I agree with MMQC. Yes, we all need to do our job to monitor technology, but the sleep problem is deeper than just technology. The shift in the timing of adolescent sleep occurs not only in humans but also more generally in mammals. Non-humans don’t use computers and cell phones!
I have been trying to understand this issue. I have no problem with the need for sleep and am a strong advocate of early enough bedtimes allowing enough sleep for all ages.
My problem is more with the Why? Why are students not getting enough sleep?
Can’t they go to bed earlier? If not, why? Too many activities after school? Too little time for homework?
Is screen time preventing them to fall asleep? Is their phone under their pillow, waking them up every time a text comes in?
If we do not know the source of the problem, the proposed solution may not fit. Won’t students stay up later knowing they can sleep later?
Isabelle, excellent questions. You drive home why we need to work harder to educate the Newton community about kid’s (and adolescent’s) sleep. And we need to look at all aspects of sleep, not just start times.
Here’s an article you might find useful:
https://sleepfoundation.org/sleep-news/backgrounder-later-school-start-times
Much of this information is relatively new. Let’s face it, kids have been up early to work on farms for centuries, and most of us had early start times and survived them. This is a societal change. But the way I look at it, that doesn’t mean we can’t do better for our children today now that we know better the importance of sleep and more specifics about their needs.
I personally am content with the study the school committee put into this issue specifically because they researched the issue. Sure it could have been faster, but I for one am concerned about the impact on younger kids if their school hours change. The effect of elementary school start times has not really been researched, so some solutions (“just swap elementary and high school times”) risk unintended harm. Cyrus claimed this was an easy solution to this problem. It isn’t easy. But now that there’s a plan, let’s get on with it.
A lot of my peers at South actually opposed a later start time because they didn’t want a later end time. I agree: 100% in favor of a later start but only if end time stays the same (delaying the end time would also delay club meetings, sports practices, etc). I’ve heard parents with the opposite opinion because they think that lost time in the morning needs to be made up. Based on my personal experience, the first period of the day is always the least productive: tardiness is rampant and many of the students who arrive on time are sleepy and tired. It would be much more efficient and practical to get rid of the first period, allow students to have more sleep, have a complete breakfast and go through the entire day more rested and alert.
So, Jake, what you’re suggesting is a shorter school day? If there’s one less period in the day, how would this impact students getting necessary credits? This doesn’t seem like a reasonable or realistic solution.
I was actually in the same graduating class as Jake, and he brings up a frequently mentioned point about athletics and clubs being potentially hindered by a later start time.
I think it’s important to consider why we attend school – to learn, not to play sports. Sports should have to accommodate learning, not the other way around. A lot of the sports related issues could easily be resolved with practices in the morning, and moving from the spread-out DCL to a more geographically sensible athletic conference. The same goes for having club meetings in the mornings.
In regards to Isabelle’s question, there’s been an increasing amount of studies finding that the internal clock of a teenager is equipped to be wake up late and then stay up late. It was easier for my body to get 6 hours of sleep and wake up at 8 than get 7 hours but have to wake up at 7.
I would also add that Seasonal Affective Disorder brought on by long winter nights in New England directly impacts sleep rhythms across a wide swath of the population. Our lives are modulated by light.
One more reason to consider this as a broad public health issue and address all elements of it as best we can, beginning with education.
An update on last night’s vote–with the exception of absentees and recusals, all councilors voted “yes.” The affirmation by the council is appreciated. This is an important and necessary step in eliminating the public health problems caused by our current high school start times. On behalf of many students and parents, thank you!
@Jeffrey: Any chance you could provide a roll call? I’d be curious to know who recused themselves and I’m sure others would be too.
No one was excused from voting on the resolution. Those were other items.
Coincidentally, last night we honored one of (!) Newton’s most recent Nobel Prize winners, Michael Rosbash, for his work on (wait for it) circadian rhythms, which are of course why we were talking about later school start times,
Jake has touched upon the issue being worked by the HS principals and their teams now. Our surveys across Newton student, parent, and teacher populations have found strong interest in later start times but also strong interest in not staying in school later in the day. So how do we work with this? Let’s start by looking at the Start School Later website:
http://www.startschoollater.net/
It leads to a great sortable spreadsheet with the start and end time data for 197 Massachusetts school districts. Here’s the link:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1b8nAVoV4n-y1VUe2vKbYjqdp7w3ITC53lT4EcSWPhFo/edit?pli=1#gid=0
A survey of the current landscape:
• NSHS and NNHS start at 7:40 am and 7:50 am, respectively.
• With X and J block included Newton high schools have the longest school days in the state, and we keep our students there later than everyone else too. Exclude X and J blocks and we still keep our students in high school longer and later than nearly everyone.
• At this point only 36% of the reporting schools start later in the morning than NSHS and 15% start later than NNHS.
• Only 5% of the schools start after 8 a.m.
Now take a look at our block schedules for each school:
Newton South Block Schedule: https://www.newton.k12.ma.us/Page/1520
Newton North Block Schedule: https://www.newton.k12.ma.us/domain/493
I have NO IDEA how these crazy schedules evolved but the principal teams are working with their department heads and key staff to even out the schedules at both schools, to see if there are ways to cut time out of the school day without harming academics, to make sure there are sufficient extended blocks of sufficient time length to allow for labs, art classes, etc. that must get more than the “normal” 55-minute block to be most helpful, and more.
The charge to the teams is to develop a schedule that pushes start time later (8:30 has been the time most commonly articulated as a target but that is not an absolute) while minimizing the chaos and complication. The School Committee and NPS fully appreciate the benefits as well as the negative impacts of pushing start time to later in the morning. This is why we’ve asked NPS to do it, but do it planfully. Finally, the impacts to our staff must be collectively bargained, and there may be additional costs for transportation too.
I’m a current junior at South, and I’m just going to respond to a few comments, and talk about my experiences.
Mike – It is absolutely true that increased use of electronics and exposure to blue light negatively impacts sleep. However, even on days when I don’t touch my computer or phone for the night, I still have trouble falling asleep before 12.
NewtonMom – I think we stumbled upon the same source. At first glance, I was perplexed by how the city has chosen to stand by a few teachers over the health of so many students. There is no reason to continually delay modifying start times in order to satisfy a select few teachers.
Isabelle – Students do not get enough sleep because they want to do a lot of things during the day. If I came home from school, and just studied and completed my homework, I could be getting around 10 hours of sleep a night easily. But I don’t. Because school drains my energy, I like to devote time towards social media, news, etc that can make me feel relaxed. I’m also a part of many extracurriculars that also take up a lot of time. In order to combat all of the academic work, I personally need time to partake in activities that I enjoy. I’m pretty sure very few high schoolers would be willing to destroy their social life or happiness for academics.
Jim – Totally agree with both statements. School should be prioritized over sports, and the wakeup time is more important than the amount of sleep.
In my freshman and sophomore years, I could sleep from 12 – 7, and feel absolutely exhausted every day. My brain could never function properly, and I didn’t reach my peak academic potential. My confidence slowly deteriorated, and the negative cycle continued. This year, the way I’ve dealt with this issue is by sleeping twice every day, 3 hours each time. I’ve gotten rid of my internal clock because no matter how much sleep I got, I could not function waking up at 7 am in the morning. Now, I wake up twice a day, once in the evening, once in the morning, and I feel much more awake and alert. My academic performance has considerably improved as a result, and I’m generally more pleased now than any other year in HS.
With a non-traditional internal clock, 7am isn’t so bad. Unfortunately, the fact that I have to switch to preindustrial sleeping patterns in order to function is unacceptable. I firmly believe delaying the start time would drastically decrease the severity of sleep deprivation, and that I won’t have to sleep twice a day.
David, thanks for your comments and personal observations.
You mention that changing light exposure for a night doesn’t make it easier for you to fall asleep. That’s completely believable. Sleep patterns are a long-term rhythm that requires quite a while to change. As you suggest, their are overlapping contributors to sleeplessness that vary from individual to individual. That’s why we have to address the problem from multiple angles at once through education, policy, and infrastructure.
Here’s a random collection of resources that show how big this issue is:
Here’s WebMD’s take on light and sleep:
https://www.webmd.com/sleep-disorders/news/20170619/is-blue-light-bad-for-your-health
The American Medical Association now recommends against the bluish streetlights we have in Newton:
https://theconversation.com/american-medical-association-warns-of-health-and-safety-problems-from-white-led-streetlights-61191
The sleep you describe as having is called biphasic sleep, and it isn’t abnormal, just uncommon and unsupported by today’s American social schedule:
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/wired-success/201403/nightly-8-hour-sleep-isnt-rule-its-myth
Steve Siegel’s informative email shows just how complicated the details of figuring out the details of changing high school schedules really are. I think the School Committee would do well to make this research more visible when the topic comes up. This isn’t navel gazing. And it’s not optional. It’s real work.
Many schools have already moved to late high school start time, including Duxbury MA, Seattle WA, and Fairfax VA. If these communities can do it, so can we. The Empire State building was “planfully” erected in 11 months. Let’s shoot for a later start time next fall.
The community is unified. The SC has the Council’s support. 8 thousand students, teachers and parents filled out surveys. The support from these groups was dramatic. The number of respondents who agreed or strongly agreed with a later start time was 4 times greater than those who disagreed or strongly disagreed. These results are not masking dissension between subgroups. Students, teachers, and parents are ALL more likely to agree with a later start time.
The community is counting on success. Let’s not be reckless. Every year we delay the evidence tells us that students have worse mental and physical health. Some of our graduates won’t attend the caliber of colleges that they could have if their academic performance was not hindered by the current NPS schedule. The studies tell us that annually an extra 24 adolescent automobile accidents are attributable to the current policy.
The surveys never asked anyone to compare the benefits of starting late versus ending late. Everyone knows there is no way to start late without making up the time somewhere. We all knew this when we told the NPS that we overwhelmingly supported a later high school start.
From the SC meetings that I attended, an artificial constraint—that school can’t end after 3:30 PM– was been thrown around without any pushback. Why not? School already ends at 3:20. The world will not end if high school ends at 3:40 PM.