Health & Fitness
Changing Times for Better Schools
Greenfield resident Dolores Skowronek is working to raise national awareness of the health and learning issues associated with early high school start times.
Many Patch readers know that I recently tried to . The experience was pretty frustrating, but worth it because it strengthened my resolve and made me realize that I’m not alone.
Before approaching our school board, I spent countless hours reading the published research literature and scouring the Internet for data and statistics. It didn’t take long to discover that early start times are very bad for the health and education of our nation’s teens. The evidence is overwhelming.
As I researched the start time issue, I found something unexpected. There are pockets of parents just like me all over the country. Imagine my surprise as I read about parents in Florida, California, Washington, Virginia, Maryland, Texas, and Michigan who were experiencing the same frustrations I felt here in Wisconsin. Clearly, this is a national problem.
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." They too are trying to get their school districts to acknowledge the research by implementing safe and healthy policies for their children. Sadly, many districts are ignoring these parents' pleas in favor of extracurriculars, cost-saving policies, and pressure from vocal naysayers. I am hopeful that we can change that.
In November, I joined several parents from other states who decided to band together and form a national “Start School Later” coalition. Our goal is to raise awareness of the impact of early high school start times on a teen’s health and ability to learn. We have an online petition, which I hope more Patch readers will sign. We will need the support of concerned parents as we move forward.
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By the way, Greenfield High School currently has one of the earliest start times in the nation (7:10 a.m.). The consequences of our early start time are often ignored, but nonetheless, very real. For example, tardies are a huge problem at GHS. Last school year our high school had 8,591 first hour tardies. Dealing with these is time consuming and costly for the staff we employ. It is also disruptive to teachers and students already in class. This is just one example of how early start times impact education in a community, other consequences are more profound and harmful. Can we really continue to ignore this?
