One of the pondering questions every school year seems to be whether or not school districts around the country should push back their current schools start time to after 8:00 am. This conversation sparked when a bill was introduced to the New Jersey Legislation in March 2022 proposing to push back school start times after 8:30 am.

Despite the concerns of a start time after 8:00 am due to sports practices and game times being delayed along with after school clubs, a change in the schools start time would increase the cumulative performance of students.

Waking up early as an adolescent means you’re often waking up before the sun goes up. Scientists have found that teenagers waking up before the crack of dawn is not beneficial to one’s health. Scientists have found the “social jetlag” difference in which students have to wake up and when their body’s would naturally wake up. Sleep expert Dr. Maree Barnes believes that “when the sun comes up in the morning, the light turns off or suppresses melatonin” which concludes that “the naturally occurring body hormone which helps us go to sleep.” If students wake up in daylight, Dr. Barnes says that the melatonin is “switched off,” and that “our cortisol is switched on, which physically keeps us awake.”

Effective and efficient sleep times for adolescents gives the body more time to restore itself, and reduce overall daytime sleepiness. A start time past 8:30am may allow students to have extra time for breakfast, which can be crucial to teenagers over growth and health. Students may be running late to school, eliminating the necessary time to sit and eat before the school day begins. With a bad habit like this for most teens, this leaves students hungry for a majority of the school day, making it increasingly difficult to concentrate in class. National studies have shown that “approximately 60 percent of high school students skip breakfast each morning and 14 percent of them do not eat the meal most or all days of the week” (sph.umn.edu). 

Along with more time to eat breakfast could lead to a decrease in students’ tardiness. Tired students are more inclined to skip and or show up late to school, leading to more absences and learning loss. An altered school schedule would allow students to sleep in and arrive at school on time.

Moving the school start time past 8:00 am would be a major change in academic success. Implementing a later start time gives students the opportunity to sleep in longer and wake up well-rested, better prepared to take on a 7-hour school day. Allowing students and staff to get the proper sleep they need, everyone becomes more productive. Students who get the proper amount of sleep are less likely to fall asleep in class, and more capable of retaining the information being taught.

Principal Dr. Neigel understands that “most of the research up to this point tends to say that delaying school start times leads to more sleep for students, and thus better academic performance.” A later start time will show an increase in decision making and concentration, making it easier to retain information being taught in the classroom. 

A study conducted in 2018 found that “school districts who pushed start times from 7:50 am to 8:45 am had students getting slightly higher grades than they were before the change. Students who sleep enough have improved grades in their first-period core classes, higher graduation rates, and increased standardized test scores” (sleepjunkie.com). 

Dr. Neigel says that “some school districts, like Seattle, have already seen positive results by delaying high school start times.” Adding that, “if [we] trust the research, which I do, I think it would be a positive step for student’s health and subsequently, their academic performance.”

With all the positive benefits that come with an 8:30 am start time, there’s a lot the Somerset Hills School district would need to adjust in order to make this happen. A later start time would push back practices and games, along with clubs and administration meetings. A majority of Bernards High School sports practices begin at 3:00 pm, so with an adjusted start time, practices may begin later in the afternoon.

When asking Dr. Neigel about what an 8:30 am start time may do to the overall school schedule, he says that “there are significant issues that school districts would need to address in order to make it happen, primarily district bussing, the impact on elementary schools, and athletic schedules,” but highlighting that “anything is possible.”

As the Somerset Hills School District waits to see if this school start time bill will be passed, Dr. Neigel says that “[I] am very interested to see what happens and how it impacts BHS.”