What are the downsides of having middle and high schools start at 9am with elementary schools starting at 7:30am? Basically a reversal of what is in place today.
Just go through with one fell swoop and swap every single starting time.
Just go through with one fell swoop and swap every single starting time.
But it can be very hard for the parents that previously chose the school (partly) because of its start time, and adapted their own life & work schedule around this time.
Also, it'd have a huge side effect: middle/high schools kids can go to school on their own. Many kids at elementary schools cannot. With this, you force parents to drop their kids off much earlier, which would fuck with their work schedules.
I*m not entirely sure why it is a big deal: Either way, it is only an hour at this point. To be fair, it was more difficult before indiana adopted Daylight Savings time.
My high school (in Maryland) started at 7:25. The middle school in my town in Massachussetts now starts at 7:40.
1) Elementary and middle schools are (more or less) neighbourhood based, it is an exception that a pupil comes from far away.
2) The "problem" comes starting from high school, in Italy we have two "generic" high school types, the "Classico" and the "Scientifico" (I think there is no need for a translation) of which there are many + a number of "focused" or "professional" schools like Geometri, Ragionieri, Linguistico, Artistico, Alberghiero (Surveying, Accounting, Linguistic, Artistic, Hotelier) and usually it is the kids going to these latter types that have the longer commuting time/earlier waking needs, particularly those coming from villages nearby the city.
In my times, I was lucky enough to be able to walk (accompanied or later alone) to elementary school as it was less that one block away, as well walk (some fifteen minutes walk away) to middle school and go by bike or moped or bus to high school (a fifteen to thirty minutes trip at the most).
But I had friends that went to that or the other "professional" institute that had 1 h - 1 h 30 trips every morning, so they usually set the alarm clock to 6-6:15 in the morning.
Now I will sound as an old grumpy bastard, but all in all none of us suffered from the scary consequences outlined in the article:
"Sleep-deprived teens are at increased risk for poor academic performance, binge drinking, and suicide."
Maybe, just maybe, it is that risk that is a tad bit exaggerated?
* Downtown Boston is tiny. But the actual official city is pretty big, and dips much further south than many people realize.