NEVADA VIEWS: Avoiding Zombieland: Clark County schools should start later

Thousands of high school students in Clark County arrive at their first-period classes each weekday half-awake. Teachers try their best to keep students interested while their heads nod and their eyes glaze over. These schools are making us follow a schedule that goes against our biology. Evidence has shown that teenagers require more sleep and delaying the start of school could have a huge impact.

In order to give students the eight to 10 hours of sleep that our developing brains need, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advises that middle and high schools start no earlier than 8:30 a.m. However, “only 1 in 5 schools across the country comply with that recommendation,” according to the CDC. This also applies to the Clark County School District. Students must get up as early as 5:30 a.m. to catch the bus because many high schools start before 7:30 a.m. Sleep deprivation — which has shown to have bad effects on both learning and mental health for all teenagers — is the result.

Teens’ sleep patterns naturally change during adolescence, according to many studies done over the years. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, “the average teenager in today’s society has difficulty falling asleep before 11 p.m. and is best suited to wake at 8 a.m. or later.” The academy goes on to state that high schools and middle schools should “aim for start times that allow students the opportunity to achieve optimal levels of sleep (8.5–9.5 hours) and to improve physical (e.g. reduced obesity risk) and mental (e.g. lower rates of depression) health, safety (e.g. drowsy driving crashes), academic performance, and quality of life.”

Simply put, early start times for schools are unhealthy in addition to being inconvenient.

The advantages of later start times are obvious. For example, a one-hour delay in start times at Seattle high schools resulted in “an average of 34 minutes more sleep for students each night.” Also, researchers discovered “fewer tardies and better grades.” This is all consistent with national research showing that learning improves with more sleep.

Here in Clark County, the same would apply. Teachers always see that, while students in later classes are more involved, the ones in early classes are drowsy and unfocused. According to a local teacher, her first-period students “look like zombies” compared to her afternoon students. Starting later is arguably the easiest and most efficient way for schools to improve classroom test scores and boost mental health.

Some people argue that starting school later could clash with the schedules of working families. Parents who start work early usually aren’t able to drop their kids off around 9 a.m. Others worry that sports, clubs and part-time jobs would be pushed too far into the evening, causing students to be late and fired as a result. All of these concerns are valid, but districts that have switched to later schedules have found easy solutions such as shifting practice times, talking with job managers or adjusting bus routes in ways that give kids more sleep and improves academic and mental health outcomes.

The debate over school start times is a public and educational health issue that needs to be taken into account. As the first state to change middle and high schools, California has already taken action. Nevada needs to listen. This is exactly why we are ranked 45th in education. The Clark County School District has the chance to boost scores by putting students’ academic performance and health first just like other states.

Imagine a Clark County where teachers no longer struggle with sleepy classrooms, where students arrive at school alert and motivated and where better mental health results in better academic performance. That future is possible through policy and backed by science, so it is not unrealistic. Giving teenagers the biological and psychological conditions they need to thrive is the goal of starting school later, not to make our lives easier.

The benefits are long-lasting, the solutions are workable and the evidence is overwhelming. Schools in Clark County need to take science seriously and allow students to sleep in a little bit longer.

Mark Rodas is a senior at West Career and Technical Academy in Las Vegas.