A few more winks of sleep

For middle-school students, every morning your alarm clock goes off around 6:30 or 6:45, giving you a little heart attack that says, “It’s time to wake up.” Wouldn’t it be nice to wake up a little bit later?

The Watertown Middle School doors open for students at 7:30 a.m. but students don’t have to be in their seats until 7:40. Students are able to leave at 2:10 p.m., making for a 6 ½-hour school day.

I think that giving everyone that extra little bit of sleep would be great for everyone in all kinds of ways. Some people might be concerned that if we start school later then we can’t have a  6½-hour school day. If school starts at 8:30 and ends at 2:30, it would give all students extra sleeping or getting-ready time in the morning.

Students are always so tired in the morning. Early classes get boring and kids are sleepy. Students are usually more awake around second period, which is at 8:37.

If the middle school started at 8:30, then students wouldn’t be so tired, and that would add life to the morning classes.

“Studies show that teenagers learn better later on in the day,” said WMS principal Kimo Carter.

He said the big reason we can’t start school later is financial.

“It is cheaper to have three buses to do both the Hosmer and Middle School than to have six buses do both schools at the same time.”

“Most districts have the middle school on the early bus run and the elementary school on the later bus run because of family child care issues. All elementary school children need child care if their parents work, while only some middle-school children need child care. It costs more to families if the day care had to start at 2:10 versus 2:40.

“Furthermore, many families depend on middle-school students to take care of their elementary-school siblings while parents are at work.”

Watertown Middle School has a bus because there are people coming from all over town. Each elementary school is in its own district, which means that the students live close enough to the school to either walk or have their parents drop them off on their way to work. This way all the buses are free for the the middle school.

To solve having the students in middle school take care of their younger siblings, the elementary schools could all get longer recesses because every kid loves recesses, so why not extend it, giving middle-school students the same opportunities they have now to get home and take care of their brothers/sisters.

So many good things could come out of starting school later. I think we should all take it into consideration.

–June 11, 2013–