Neighbor News
High school Students: Don't get enough sleep!
Recent data shows that the average high school students does not receive enough sleep
Data shows that High school students don’t get the recommended amount of sleep on a daily basis. Sleep allows students to decompress while simultaneously repairing muscles and preparing the body for another day. A Parent at the March 18 school committee meeting had an interesting perspective “Even if every Algonquin student was perfect in their sleep hygiene, the basic biology of adolescents is such that they cannot actually get the recommended amount of sleep, … because …their body’s are actually not sleepy and cannot really fall asleep till around 11o’clock at night.” Parent at March 18 school committee meeting
Many students admit having fallen asleep in class for one of two reasons; the class is boring or the more likely option, they didn’t get enough sleep to be a good student.
According to a recent survey of Algonquin students, 28.2 percent get more than 8 hours of sleep a night. That’s roughly 395 students and leaves more than 2 thirds of students not getting the recommended 8 ½ to 9 ½ hours of sleep a night.
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The school district attempted to tackle the issue in a multifaceted comprehensive approach that would give students the opportunity to get enough sleep to be well rested. Superintend Johnson proposed a plan that would start Algonquin between 8 and 9am daily, but unless the budget grows about $400,000 then that idea wont work. It costs about $67,000 for a single bus for the entire year, and Algonquin has 31 busses.
I spoke with a few students that have some interesting view of the topic of student sleep; I also spoke with Mr. Mead, our principle. I heard many ideas from a flexible first period to no school in the morning at all; Both are unavailable but that lead to a different conversation, why aren’t students at the forefront of the conversation because after all the change would benefit them or hurt them. Superintendent Johnson said “What this really is, is a more relaxed transition into the school as opposed to walking in the front door and immediately going into the classroom”.
