Parents Pushing For School To Start Later In New Canaan: Report

NEW CANAAN, CT — Parents in New Canaan again voiced their support for later school start times during last week's Board of Education meeting, the Stamford Advocate is reporting. The meeting was held on Monday, April 1 during Safe Driving Awareness Week.

During the meeting, parents cited medical research that shows the effect lack of sleep can have on emotions, including anxiety, according to the Stamford Advocate. Some also expressed concern that the current start times are harming the health of children in town.

New Canaan is not the first Connecticut community in recent years to have an opinion on when school should start.

In October 2017, the Ridgefield Board of Education voted to initiate a plan for later school start times, beginning with the start of the 2019-20 school year, however parents who were opposed to the plan started an online petition that gained attention.

The school board later rescinded its decision to push back school start times in December.

A recent small study conducted in Seattle found that student grades were on average 4.5 points higher with later start times.

The American Academy of Pediatrics issued a policy statement in 2014 that encouraged school districts to start middle and high school classes no earlier than 8:30 a.m. due to a change in adolescents' biological clocks.

During puberty, a teenager's biological bedtime is closer to midnight, and asking a teen to be in class at 7:30 a.m. is the equivalent of asking an adult to be at work for 5:30 a.m., according to NPR.

Read the full Stamford Advocate store here.