Should Teenagers Start High School Later in the Morning? More Districts Consider It

Should high school students get to sleep in and start school later? That's the question two big school districts in Colorado are discussing.

Boulder and Cherry Creek, two of the state's largest school districts, are considering moving high school start times later in 2017-18, according to Chalkbeat. High schools in Boulder currently start between 7:30 a.m. and 8 a.m., but would begin instead between 8:30 a.m. and 8:45 a.m. Cherry Creek schools start between 7 a.m. and 7:30 a.m., but officials there haven't yet set a new target start time.

The two Colorado districts are just the latest in a long string of districts that have tossed around this question. Another big district, Montgomery County, Md., moved its high school start time 20 minutes later. Seattle is letting its teenagers sleep a bit later, moving its start times for middle and high school to 8:45 a.m. this fall. Durham, N.C., shifted its first-bell time to 9 a.m. Denver's been tossing the idea around for nearly two years and it still hasn't gone anywhere, Chalkbeat reports.

http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/high_school_and_beyond/2016/08/should_high_school_students_start_school_later.html?cmp=eml-enl-eu-news1