The New Canaan Board of Education is evaluating a change to school start times to allow our older, sleep-deprived students more time for sleep. A group of New Canaan parents created the Healthy School Start Times website to inform parents about this important health concern and to collect signatures on a petition asking the BoE to prioritize changing start times. Over 700 New Canaan families have signed the petition and commented on why they consider the issue to be a priority. Some of the comments are included here and the rest can be found on the website. We hope New Canaanites will read what their neighbors are saying and add their own voice to the petition:
- “I have two boys who are currently in elementary school and will go through the entire NCPS system. I believe later start times will give our young people an advantage to learn/retain more because they will 1) be able to focus better with more sleep and 2) allow their cognitive growth to occur during the hours that children should be sleeping. Finally, academics should always take priority over athletics. I went to a PREP school for four years and we had appropriate sleep, academic/athletic time and start time. New Canaan is a leader in the education environment and I know we can figure this out as a community.” – Kirsten Bossin
- “I feel that my seventh grade child is affected by anxiety because he has less sleep and gets on his bus at 6:30 am in the morning. He is not able to feel rested or perform to the best of his ability because of his lack of sleep. I feel that he needs more sleep now, since he is older, and it saddens me to see him unhappy about his lack of sleep.” – Linda Speranza
- “We need to follow the lead of other superior school districts and do what’s right for our children’s minds and bodies.” – Janet Fonss
- “We hear it from our pediatricians, we read the studies, and we see it in our own households– proper sleep is essential to health and optimal performance. As children grow older, they naturally stay up later and rise later. A later start seems a natural choice for schools so excellent in other areas. Clearly, there will be obstacles and tricky logistics along the way, but grappling with these is worth it in the long run for our children.” – Laura Prior
- “This is so disruptive for kids, for the teachers and for parents. Our children are exhausted and it seems unnecessary in order to stagger the buses. If other towns can set start times back, so should we.” – Rachel Lampen
- “Later start times for our middle and high school students will greatly benefit their health and education as supported by many research studies. Please consider this change for New Canaan, a leader in education.” – Bonny Plosker
- “Evidence strongly suggests that the benefits of a later start for teens outweighs the counter arguments.” – Jennifer Crowley
- “I have nieces and nephews in Virginia who have already adopted later school start times for older students. The younger children who are programmed to wake up early anyway have not had any issues with an earlier start time to their day. New Canaan should be an early adopter of this practice and not left in the dust.” – Meaghan Kupchak
- “For the health and well being of our developing teenagers.” – Tracy Growney
- “We moved here to give our children the best possible education we could. In order to benefit fully from the outstanding education and tough rigor in New Canaan, it is important that our children are well rested and not sleep deprived. I hope to see the start time change. It will make a world of difference!” – Stephanie Zaccario
- “Science.” – Kristin Norley
- “I have a 7th grader, and her after school sports often have late practice times. This has shifted her natural sleep pattern, and has resulted in a later bedtime. Her physical, mental, and social development would definitely benefit from an extra hour of sleep in the morning.” – Suzanne Pertusiello
- “I have two young children and two teenagers. I see firsthand that the teenagers would greatly benefit from a later start time.” – Lisa Strupp
- “It is brutally unfair to students and families to require them to awake shortly after 6am, usually in the dark, to get ready for school. Take the advice of health and education experts, and reform the system to enable students to be well rested and properly engaged.” – Craig Bloom
- “My 14 year old son is in 8th grade and he needs more sleep. We are never able to embrace our bus pickup in the morning, as we want him to get those 20 minutes of extra sleep each school day. In essence, we are paying for a bus that we are not using due to the insane early school start time. We are not alone with this approach. It is well documented that sleep is critical to a human being’s success. Please seriously consider a later school start time for NCPS.” – Kimberly Birmingham
- “As a physician and parent our children need more sleep. These early hours are not good for anyone especially our teens.” – Peter Jensen
- “As an educational consultant, I work with high school students and see firsthand how exhausted they are from lack of sleep. I see it with my 7th grader. He was an early riser until 5th grade and then bam! He’s sleeping in until 8:30 or 9:00 now whenever he has a chance – and he goes to bed at 9:15! Developmentally, kids need more sleep!” – Krista Colthup
- “My fifth grade son is prototypical of this issue. He struggles to sleep at his ‘parentally mandated’ bedtime of 8:30PM, thus cannot wake up for a 7:30 am bus to school. If this is physiological, pushing school start time is a clear win for all.” – Christopher Bach
- “Sleep deprivation has ruined my quality of life and education.” – Martina Pincione
- “I’ve witnessed so many health issues that would be avoided by kids having an extra hour of sleep” – Christine Crawford
- “Sleep deprivation can and does have significant negative effects on health and learning. Please read “Why we Sleep” By Matthew Walker PhD, sleep researcher UC Berkeley.” – Ivan Nedeltchev
- “I’ve noticed my son can’t wake up in the morning and he can’t fall asleep before 9pm. He’s moody and it takes 2 classes before he is awake in school.” – Karen Jahns
- “My daughter has had a difficult time adjusting to the earlier start time, she is not the happy go lucky girl she used to be and doesn’t look forward to school anymore.” – Diane Lowman
- “6:32am bus?! Practices until 9pm?! The insanity needs to end. (While my elementary school kids have about 2 full hours of active, awake time in the morning before their 9am start time). It just makes sense.” – Dawn Doak
- “All of my children are sleep-deprived due to the early start time. There’s no way to catch up at night because they can’t get to sleep early with HW, sports and generally just being a teen.” – Renee Codd