A lot of Seattle teens can hit the snooze button next school year.
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The Seattle Public Schools board has voted to push back the time students come in to start their day of classes.
The change in time follows research indicating that teenagers’ brains function better later in the morning.
The American Academy of Pediatrics now recommends that middle and high school start no earlier than 8:30 a-m.
But most Seattle middle and high schools start 40 minutes earlier than that, at 7:50.
While a few elementary schools will now start at 7:55 a.m., elementary schools in the “tier three” group will start at 9:35 a.m.
The times were decided after a district-appointed task force spent seven months consulting experts and studying the issue, The Seattle Times said.
Before the vote, parents, teachers and even doctors gave testimony in support for pushing back school start times, as did those from the 13 schools who feel they are getting the raw end of the deal.
The school board voted 6-1 to have the city’s high schools start at 8:45 a.m.in the 2016-2017 school year.
The district says it had to stagger the start times based on transportation resources and costs.
“Tier three students’ best learning should not be sacrificed for the betterment of everyone”.
The board will also consider the “student assignment transition” plan, affecting students on wait lists for schools outside of their assigned schools based on residence.
“It doesn’t make sense to me to object to something for my kids if the alternative is that more kids would be subjected to it”.
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“We will become the largest district in the country to make this switch, and hopefully we will set a trend”, school board director Sharon Peaslee said in a statement on the changes.
