By Kyle Nguyen
California Senate Bill (SB) 328 is a law that requires schools to start no later than 8:30 a.m. by the 2022-2023 school year. SB 328 aims to address fatigue in schools by giving students more time to sleep.
The bill’s purpose is to improve the attendance and productivity of students, but it lacks in one aspect. Having an 8:30 a.m. start time is still too early for students, and therefore a later school start time should be considered.
According to the Sleep Foundation, more sleep benefits the biological needs of adolescents by repairing the body and improving growth and organ function. It also brings about other benefits, such as an increase in attendance, decreased tardiness and improved student grades.
An 8:30 a.m. start time is not much of a difference from the typical start times we have now, and it is still too early.
According to research that examines the effect of school start times in 13 to 16-year-olds, conducted by Paul Kelly, Steven W. Lockley, Jonathan Kelley and Mariah D. R. Evans, there was a 30% increase in absences related to student illness when school began at 8:50 a.m. When students began school at 10 a.m., there was a 50% decrease in absences related to student illnesses. The researchers also claimed that having the start time at 10 a.m. led to a 12% increase in good academic progress.
Students have packed schedules with extracurricular activities, jobs and home-related responsibilities. Along with those responsibilities, students are usually up until midnight doing homework, hobbies or resting, so having the start time at 8:30 a.m. would allow students to get around six to seven hours instead of the recommended eight to 10. To better help students avoid sleep deprivation, a couple of changes can be made to improve the law.
One change that can be made is starting at 10:00 a.m. instead of 8:30 a.m. so that students can sleep more. In a 2013 article, researchers say that during puberty, a later sleep and wake time occur due to the biological changes within the adolescent body. The researchers claim that failure to adjust school timetables will lead to sleep loss and that the level of sleep loss can cause physiological and metabolic issues. It can be difficult for students to adjust to early school times because of these physical issues, thus affecting their ability to learn and enjoy what they’re learning.
Of course, time is the primary challenge to later start times; parents or guardians who take their kids to school usually have to go to work in the morning. Having a later start would likely cause safety issues at school; some parents might choose to take their kids to school early and some schools cannot financially afford to have supervision early in the morning. Parents would have to find other means of taking their child to school since they would have conflicting times with a later school start time.
Despite the scheduling issues some parents may have, the health gain and academic benefits are unquestionably better for students’ overall well-being. Prioritizing those benefits over scheduling conflicts can help students out in the long run and eventually help them succeed in future career pursuits.
SB 328 will be implemented during the 2022-2023 school year, making it a year away and some schools will wait out the time to change their schedule. There are ways that we start within the current start time and later start times operate with success. A morning hybrid class is an option that allows students to start school after 8 a.m. hybrid classes usually meet once a week; students may be able to begin school later in the morning for the rest of the week.
Another change that could be made is adding another break during school hours or extending the current break time so that students can rest a little longer.
On average, a lunch break within the Huntington Beach Union District High School District (HBUHSD) is around 34 minutes. Some HBUHSD schools don’t add a break in their bell schedules, but those with breaks have them for around eight to 10 minutes. Adding another five to 10 minutes could help kids destress and relax a little more before going back into class.
That said, five to 10 minutes doesn’t seem like a lot of time but it could change the way students mentally feel because, with those extra minutes to refresh themselves, students will be able to give their full effort in class more often. Students will also have more time to talk to teachers, do their assignments, study and socialize.
Although we are close to having a later start time, there are several conflicts and changes unique to each school district and family. Regardless, we must put the health and productivity of students first. Having a later start time is beneficial to students who need it and has the potential to increase the happiness and improve the future of students.
