California Students Get Ready to Sleep in Due to Later Start Times
Two of our journalism students, Jonathan Uriostegui (left) and Editor-in-Chief Ashley Ortega (right), hope to stay awake after the new later start times commence. Photo taken Jan. 22, 2020 in the Wellness Center at 8:53 a.m.
January 21, 2020
For some high school students, the constant lack of sleep can ruin their day. However, more sleep and wider awake students may happen with later start times in the next three years.
On Sunday, October 13, 2019, California officially became the first state to push back school start times. State Senator Anthony Portantino, is the La Cañada Flintridge Democrat who wrote the law.
Senate Bill 328 is based on research that shows students are healthier and happier when they get to sleep in a little later. Governor Gavin Newsom signed the bill into law specifying that high school and elementary schools will start school no earlier than 8:30 a.m. and middle schools will begin no earlier than 8:00 a.m. According to the bill, the new start times of school districts in California must take place within three school years, if not sooner.
Godinez Fundamental High School Principal Jesse Church, said, “ I don’t have enough information to question it, however, I do have some concerns. When school starts later, that means dismissal is later which will impact extracurricular activities and pick up time. It’ll be difficult for parents to drop off their kids at different times.”
Sophomore Jennifer Perez is one student who is happy about the later start times. “It is a positive change especially because I’m currently taking two AP classes. I usually spend 3 to 6 hours doing homework every day, which causes me to go to bed at around midnight each night.”
But Church is worried about how it’ll impact students at Godinez because “the vast majority of kids don’t live anywhere close to this school; they have to catch multiple buses.” Prior to the law change, Church decided to move school start times to 8:15 a.m. starting next year and dismiss students around 3:00 p.m. in order to have fewer kids impacted by late buses.
Assistant Superintendent, Daniel Allen, Ed.D., who works for the Santa Ana Unified School District in K-12 Teaching and Learning. One of his main responsibilities is developing policy through the curriculum.
According to Dr. Allen, the bell schedule is determined through a collaboration between administrators, teachers, and parents. They negotiate new changes and in the end, it has to be approved by the administration.
First-period journalism class listens while Assistant Superintendent, Daniel Allen, Ed.D., speaks concerning later start times. The photo was taken December 10, 2019, at 8:30 a.m. in the newsroom at Godinez Fundamental High School.
Dr. Allen said that the law applies to the district as a whole, therefore, the three academic school years will be a sufficient amount of time to plan accordingly and prepare students for this new change.
In addition, the law allows for zero period to continue, in this case, it will start around 7:30 a.m. Dr. Allen said, “30 minutes is not drastic, because the schedule is just being shifted back.” He sees a problem for working parents and individual teachers because many have children to drop off before arriving at school.
“It hasn’t really been about the kids, it’s been more about the adults,” said Dr. Allen.
As for athletics and extracurricular activities, he said that there will be logistical changes made such as sports shifting to morning practice, but stresses that for winter sports, it is difficult due to daylight savings.
With this new change, underclassmen, teachers, and administration at Godinez are looking forward to it, while others see no difference.
It’s a step in the right direction for student learning and academic success”
— teacher Nicole Salazar
Freshman Jessica Martinez spends about two and a half hours on her homework and falls asleep around 10 p.m.“I don’t like this change because it’ll give me less time to complete homework since school will end later.”
Algebra I math teacher, Nichole Salazar, believes, “it’s a step in the right direction for student learning and academic success because student grades and attendance will increase and perhaps truancy will decrease.”
Salazar’s beliefs align with The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that recommend children, ages 6-12, receive nine to 12 hours of sleep and teenagers, ages 13-18, should get eight to 10 hours of sleep. Reports have shown that 73% of high schoolers and 58% of middle schoolers do not meet these standards.
Sophomore Vanessa Alonso is one student who does not meet the CDC standard but does not want the bell schedule to change. She is part of the Distinguished Grizzly Academy, Associated Student Body (ASB), Key Club, choir, and takes one Advanced Placement class. Alonso said, “I don’t prefer the change because it’ll affect me due to extracurriculars who have me stay late for events or meetings. With this, it means I have fewer hours to work on homework before it gets dark.”
English teacher, Laurie Jocham, disagrees. “It’s a good idea because students will have more rest and more time to prepare in the mornings. It’ll be a benefit for my students because if they didn’t understand an assignment the night before, they have access for help before school,” said Jocham.
As school districts across the state weigh their options, Tustin Unified School District, located next to SAUSD, is not changing bell schedules next school year.
Mark Eliot, Director of Communications and Public Information Officer at Tustin Unified School District said the district is “Not doing anything till 2022. It’s still in the discussion phase.”
“One thing that I’m proud of being a principal here is that we have complete buy-in by parents, teachers, and students about the importance of being anywhere on time, particularly school,” said Church.
Soon, students will be sleeping in more and the constant early beep of the alarm will be a little further away.
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brianna marmolejo • Feb 23, 2020 at 5:46 pm
As a student, I am COGNIZANT that most people will think changing school time is a great idea but for students, it is not. Yes, we would have extra sleep but it would affect the ability to do our homework many students are in sports and extracurricular activities that require them to stay or meet after school. having later dismissal will affect the time we arrive home and will leave us with less time to do our work. I personally would become EXACERBATED with the short amount of time left in the day to do my work and it will cause me to still sleep later than I already do and I would have to SURGE through all of in order to get a good amount of sleep.
brianna marmolejo • Feb 23, 2020 at 5:45 pm
As a student, I am COGNIZANT that most people will think changing school time is a great idea but for students, it is not. Yes, we would have extra sleep but it would affect the ability to do our homework many students are in sports and extracurricular activities that require them to stay or meet after school. having later dismissal will affect the time we arrive home and will leave us with less time to do our work. I personally would become EXACERBATED with the short amount of time left in the day to do my work and it will cause me to still sleep later than I already do and I would have to SURGE through all of in order to get a good amount of sleep.
As a student here at Godinez, I CONCUR that sleep has become a RAMPANT issue with many students. Genuinely I feel school hours do change it would affect students for the worst. Many students are in extracurricular activities and having a later dismissal from school will only affect the time we get home. Many of the student’s parents may find it very INANE to start school at 8:30 because they might not have an access to a ride at that time. Even though students do lack sleep I believe there are other actions that we can take to not have this issue anymore
Maria • Feb 19, 2020 at 2:07 pm
I think that the time for school to begin shouldn’t change because that means that all of the after school activities will be later and there won’t be much of a difference from entering school normally. Also, this will affect many kids that get dropped off because their parents usually enter at 8 and barely have time to drop the kids of
Nayeli M. • Feb 19, 2020 at 8:53 am
Most of the schools in California have been COGNIZANT of their student’s lack of sleep and productivity throughout class periods. I understand how the students taking advanced classes and extracurricular classes will be feeling FRETFUL about the change. Some of the students think its more of an AFFLICT then a solution due to daylight savings and while other students may just use this to do homework in the mornings. Although SAUSD decided to move forward with their decision Tustin Unified School District decided not to ASCDND with the decision until 2022.
Maria Lopez • Feb 18, 2020 at 11:04 pm
It is such a relief to hear that us student might have a bit more time to sleep. Especially for students that are in lots of APs and sports, they can finally be TRANQUIL. Having to be so COGNIZANT in each class in order to get good grades causes lots of stress for students. I believe that this shift in the schedule will FORTHWITH a positive change for everyone’s day. The FRETFULLNESS that I get before going to class and worrying about assignments will also decrease tremendously. I am very curious to see how this change will affect our mentality.
Teresita • Feb 18, 2020 at 10:33 pm
I think this article shows how many people will be AFFLICTED if school did begin at a later time. I believe that once this law begins students will not RESPITE any longer if not it will be a shorter amount of time. This will happen because kids will think that they can go to sleep later and get a good rest but in reality it will be the same situation. This will also be a problem because for many working parents this change will conflict with their work schedule. I think that many people will be towards this new law and many will want to REVERT to the old school start time. -Teresita
Kayley Frias Ceballos • Feb 18, 2020 at 10:07 pm
Most of the schools in California have been cognizant of their student’s lack of sleep that stops them from being productive throughout the class periods. I agree with the students on campus who are involved in extracurricular activities or sports because a lot of students on campus think it’s an afflict then a solution due to daylight saving time during the fall/winter. Some students see it as an advantage to do their homework in the mornings and spend more time tutoring. Most of the teachers on campus prefer the change for their students to have better grades and an increase in attendance plus getting average hours of sleep. Sadly, the Tustin Unified School District is thwarting the students from sleeping in because they are in a discussion phase and waiting till the year of 2022. – Kayley
Nayeli • Feb 18, 2020 at 9:02 pm
In my opinion, I believe that the change in the school’s starting time is a step in the right direction. With more rest, students will be able to ASCEND towards their goals and earn better grades. Changing the school starting time will also TERMINATE the number of tardies at school. Being a student-athlete I am COGNIZANT of the later dismissal of sports but I am willing to sacrifice that for some extra sleep. More rest will ultimately help all students be more focused in class and help us learn more.
Mariela • Feb 18, 2020 at 8:46 pm
Opinions on the new bell schedule can definitely go either way, but I’m personally for this reform. My life won’t be affected that much, but I know it’ll benefit plenty of students. For instance, those who live in a REMOTE location from school won’t have to worry about being late to school as much. This is where it doesn’t really affect me because no matter the schedule, late start, regular, or the new one, my dad will always bring us to school at 7 am. Not everyone is like me though, and there are some students who are constantly getting tardies. The current bell schedule AFFLICTS them for they can’t make it on time. However, with this new change, students will be able to be more TRANQUIL in the mornings and worry less about running late. This will definitely solve several tardy issues. The only area that this new schedule will affect me is when I will get released from practice. This new schedule means later releases for me and fewer hours to do my time-consuming homework.
Damian Nieto • Feb 18, 2020 at 8:01 pm
The sound of a later start to the school day sounds amazing. However, I personally don’t think it will be as beneficial as it sounds, at least for myself. As someone who participates in sports and gets hours upon hours of homework, getting home later due to a later dismissal might keep me up later doing homework. And if sports do end up getting pushed to the morning then I’ll still have to wake up early to go to practice. And not only will it be a problem for me, but it proves a big problem for my parents as well. The time at which my parents drop me off will need to change and it will be difficult since they have to go to work. This decision seemed quite ARBITRARY to me and I see no reason to change the schedule since some students will either get the same amount of sleep or even get less sleep. If I had JURISDICTION over the decisions that the district made, I would most definitely keep the school start time the same. I hope the struggle that this new change will AFFLICT me with is not as great as it seems.
Damian Nieto
Wendy Gutierrez • Feb 18, 2020 at 7:57 pm
In the near future, the student body will become more COGNIZANT over the topic of pushing back school start times. More debate will be presented by the student body as some agree and others don’t. One thing I appreciate over this decision is that they have taken into consideration that a vast majority of pupils live in a REMOTE location. However, there are some pros and cons to this change. A pro is that students get to have more RESPITE which is essential for teens. A con is that it can be MALIGNANT to the students who have a very busy schedule, having changes in time that affect their extracurriculars, and homework time. This may not seem very affecting but to the pupils it is, giving them less time to complete homework which must be done. To be said, I believe students all around California should have had a say in this big change.
Allison • Feb 18, 2020 at 7:43 pm
As a student here at Godinez, I CONCUR that sleep has become a RAMPANT issue with many students. Genuinely I feel school hours do change it would affect students for the worst. Many students are in extracurricular activities and having a later dismissal from school will only affect the time we get home. Many of the student’s parents may find it very INANE to start school at 8:30 because they might not have an access to a ride at that time. Even though students do lack sleep I believe there are other actions that we can take to not have this issue anymore
Oscar Sierra • Feb 18, 2020 at 4:30 pm
In my opinion, I feel like students should sleep before 9:00 p.m., so that way get 8 hours of sleep while still waking up early and it will help them not become FRETFUL. When students sleep 8 hours, the students become more COGNIZANT and help them learn better. I feel like students need to have a TRANQUIL mindset to help them be the best they can be. In my opinion, sleep is the key to success because it helps you be more aware and focus on what matters the most. I feel like most students aren’t doing well in school because of the lack of sleep, which doesn’t allow them to be focused.
Alex Joaquin • Feb 18, 2020 at 12:42 pm
This idea isn’t that bad, most students in this school need a little bit more sleep time to be concentrated in school. Although, this change can have some issues. What comes to mind when students find out they have a later start time is to sleep late. Of course, some students would find this change to be a bit helpful but for the majority of students, they will continue to sleep late. People who have sports can be AFFLICTED because they would get out much later. Parents would need to be COGNIZANT about the change to find ways to drop off their sons and daughters.
Alex