Cohen Supports Later Start Times For CT Schools

HARTFORD, CT – As the mother of three, and as a former school board member, state Senator Christine Cohen says she "knows a thing or two about sleep-deprived students."

Cohen testified Friday before the legislature’s Education Committee in support of House Bill 5217, which requires the state Department of Education to study the possibility of later school start times in Connecticut.

Democrat Cohen represents Madison, Guilford, Branford, North Branford, Durham and Killingworth.

For years, scientific studies have shown that starting school early does more harm than good. Evidence shows later school start times have a host of benefits for students, including higher graduation rates, lower truancy rates, and better mental and physical health.

“As a former Board of Education member in Guilford, and as the mother of three school-aged children, I can tell you from firsthand experience that, yes, kids need their sleep if they are to perform well in school and if they are to maintain some sort of emotional and behavioral equilibrium throughout the day,” Cohen said.

She served on the school board's School Start Times Task Force: "The science is there. The biology of adolescent sleep is well-known. Now all we need to do as a society is to recognize the benefit of later school start times and act on it. Change is always difficult, but our priorities must rest with the mental health and well-being of our youth.”

Cohen observed that Connecticut is one of the four states in America with an average school start time before 7:45 a.m. – the earliest in the country. The American Academy of Pediatrics suggests high school students begin classes at 8:30 a.m.

Cohen was joined in her public testimony by Dr. Craig Canapari, director of the Pediatric Sleep Center at Yale-New Haven Hospital.

“Over ninety percent of teenagers in the United States do not get enough on weeknights,” Dr. Canapari said. “The result is problems with mood, anxiety, academic performance, and even an increased risk of car accidents. The research is clear: later school start times help teens get more sleep.”

H.B. 5217 directs the Commissioner of Education to establish a working group to study issues relating to school start times, including: the effect of the start time of school instruction on child growth and development; whether there is a correlation between school start times and educational outcomes and student productivity; the feasibility of implementing a uniform school start time in Connecticut; and whether any other states have implemented a mandatory school start time requirement.

The working group must include members who represent school boards, superintendents, teachers, administrators, and the parents of students. Its report would be due by January 1, 2021.

Cohen said it’s important that any later school start time be implemented state-wide in order to standardize school bus transportation routes, dining hours, athletic practices and games, after-school clubs and activities, after-school jobs, and homework schedules.

The Education Committee has until March 23 to vote on the bill.