The Student News Site of Westborough High School

The Lobby Observer

The Student News Site of Westborough High School

The Lobby Observer

The Student News Site of Westborough High School

The Lobby Observer

Countdown to April Break!
Have a Wonderful Break!

Problems on the horizon with later starting times

By: Iona Cotton

After years of debate, the Westborough School Committee has inconveniently decided to delay the high school’s start time. This delay, beginning in the 2018-2019 school year, pushes back the start of school from 7:30 to 8:10 a.m. This change means that students must stay in school longer- until 2:37 p.m. The consequences of this move will be drastic and problematic.

For most students, including myself, there is not much difference between waking up at 6:00 and waking up at 6:40 a.m., either way I’m going to be tired. Unless school were to start sometime after lunch, there is no way to avoid the sleepiness of students during the first part of the day. We’ve been dealing with the early mornings and exhaustion most of our lives, there’s not much that we can do to change it. Drastically changing the schedule of the Westborough High School and Mill Pond School is not worth the meager 40 minutes of sleep.

A later dismissal has an impact on a lot of students in the high school. Many athletes are concerned with the fact that they may end up practicing in the dark or that they won’t be returning home to their families until late every night. The shift in times will have a major effect on practices and after school games that have to be coordinated with other schools.

Adding more time in the morning means less time after school to go to practices and complete homework. It makes sense that if students have less time after school to complete homework on top of other responsibilities, they will have to stay up later into the night to finish assignments. Unfortunately, this shift means they would still be receiving similar amounts of sleep as they do now.

Sports is just one after school activity affected by the change of time. Clubs and other activities will be pushed back which is difficult for a lot of students. Many older teens in the high school have jobs that they immediately go to after school. The change in the ending time means kids will have less time to travel to their jobs and less time on the job, which in turn means lower paychecks or later nights. After school jobs are extremely important and essential for a lot of students who are saving for college and the future.

Not to mention, some older students have the responsibility of caring for younger siblings after school, this change means that younger students will arrive home before high school students. Parents of these younger students will have to keep their kids in after school care or hire another babysitter, which is not only an annoyance, but could be expensive.

The decision to change schools time has many effects on students’ after school lives that are not worth an extra few minutes of sleep. This change looks good on paper, but does not consider all of the problems it will cause. I do not think that 40 minutes in the morning will change how tired we are or increase our alertness. Everyone wakes up early and deals with it, and when we’re out in the real world, who knows what time we’ll be waking up for work? The negative consequences much outweigh the positive effects. The 2018- 2019 school year is sure to bring a lot of complications and troubles for the school committee.

View Comments (3)
More to Discover

Comments (3)

All The Lobby Observer Picks Reader Picks Sort: Newest

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

  • S

    Sarissa VolinJun 14, 2017 at 11:55 am

    I totally agree with your article! It was so well written and you backed up your points really well. Awesome!

    Reply
  • J

    Justina DemetryJun 13, 2017 at 2:06 pm

    Couldn’t agree more with article! Very well written and I love the examples you used.

    Reply
  • J

    Jalen WorstellJun 13, 2017 at 2:06 pm

    I agree with everything you said. I love the comment ” Unless school were to start sometime after lunch, there is no way to avoid the sleepiness of students during the first part of the day”

    Reply