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

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    A Future without Sleepwalking Through First Period?

    A couple of Weeks back on January 24th  The Daily Westborough reported that our Superintendent, Mrs. O’Connor, is investigating whether to change school starting and ending times at the high school and middle school.  The article mentions how Mrs. O’Connor is considering starting and ending school 10-20 minutes later than the current 7:30 am and 1:58 pm times.  As the article explains, studies have shown that in many high schools around the country beginning a school day at a later time has been beneficial to students who too often are coming into school like walking zombies due to a lack of sleep.

    I am very excited that the Superintendent has chosen to look into this possibility.  I believe WHS and Gibbons students would be more effective students in the classroom with a later start time.  Too often many Westborough High students have to make a choice between having at least 5-6 hours of sleep or making it to school on time because they didn’t go to bed until midnight or later.  For many this dilemma comes from a schedule after school that includes 4 hours of homework and some combination of several hours of extra curricular activities and or work.  When you do the math, add 7 -9 hours from 2:00 and you get 9:00 -11:00 that students are finished with their activities, work, and homework on any given night.  Notice, I didn’t even mention dinner or that it is nearly impossible for someone to keep going on a schedule like this for 7-9 hours straight.

    I realize there are problems with ending school later.  The issue of arriving on time to far away athletic contests comes to mind.  I’ll admit I don’t know an exact solution to this problem,  but I do feel confident that with- excuse the pun- “outside the box thinking” by Westborough school administrators and maybe even the MIAA (Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association) a solution can be found. 

     Additionally, starting school later will not completely solve the struggles of Westborough teenagers attempting to balance their hectice schedules and find time to sleep.  A later school start time may lead some to simply move their schedules one hour forward, staying up later into the night.  This is why I also think study halls and a school philosophy of less homework and extra curricular activities should be considered. 

    I hope this is the start of our school community adressing the many times overlooked problem of overscheduled and sleep deprived students. 

    What do you think?

    -Myles

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