HARTFORD, Conn. — It’s an issue that’s had parents, students, and school districts debating for years.
Should school start later in the morning?
As of Friday, March 6th there’s now a proposal to change start times across the state.
Rep. Josh Elliot (D-88th District) attended the press conference talking about the bill. He said, "This is not so much of a question of should we, it's a question of how do we, which is why instead of proposing a bill that just says to all the municipalities you must do this based on science what we're saying is let's figure out how we can do this."
House bill 5217 was discussed at the Education Committee’s public hearing Friday It’s a bill that would direct the Commissioner of Education to establish a working group to study issues relating to school start times.
The working group must include members who represent school boards, superintendents, teachers, administrators, and parents of students who then would report back with their findings at the beginning of next year or 2021.
"It is way too complicated to try and do this on a town by town basis because things come into play like after school activities like sports, it is much more efficient to talk about this on a state level,” said Rep. Christine Cohen (D-Guilford)
Supporters of the bill say the reason for this study is the science behind it.
According to lawmakers, scientific research suggests a later start time could help students with issues like sleep deprivation, leading to higher graduation rates and better physical and mental health.
Dr. Craig Canapari who works at the Yale-New Haven Hospital said, "As kids enter adolescence their sleep schedule shifts later, so it's natural for them to sleep from 11:00 pm to 8:00 am or Midnight to 9 a.m.
Mark Zydanwicz who is a board member at the West Hartford Board of Education says he opposes the proposal, he sent the following statement:
“I cannot support the proposal Rep. Gilchrest is proposing, there are too many unfunded mandates that get passed down to the school districts. This is why we elect local boards of education, to make decisions locally for the best interest of our community. Overwhelming, 64% of the community, through hundreds of emails, were against the time change. Additionally, through an online survey, our two high schools were against the change, both schools with almost identical results, 75% against the change. Let’s leave these decisions to be made locally.”
However, one West Hartford public school student says she is for the change.
Morgan Loyd said, "Everything is harder, darker, sadder, heavier when you're tired I wish that was all just me being dramatic but it's the sad reality of so many of our morning, so, please let us wake up when we are supposed to and let us wake up to natural light and evidence there are people outside awake with us."