Later start time benefits students

The current school day start time is 8:30 a.m. This time needs to be moved to later in the morning. Luckily, the school is granting that wish. Next year the start time is being pushed back to 8:35 a.m. 

Five minutes is not a big difference, but some students argue that an extra five minutes in the morning can be beneficial. 

“People drive to school and sometimes they are late because of traffic, so the five minutes would help,” sophomore Tim Johnson said. 

“Starting five more minutes later might give us more time to get to class,” freshman Andy Bustamante said. 

Students who drive to school risk being tardy because they may run into traffic on the way to school. Five minutes is not a big difference but would definitely help students who tend to run a little late get to class on time. 

Some students argue that if the school start time is early, they will have less time to sleep. 

“I think school should be later because people need their sleep and there are also problems that come up when you get less sleep like not being able to focus in class,” freshman Jovani Geronimo said. 

The current school day ends at 3:30 p.m. and will be moved back to 3:35 p.m. next year. According to the Center for Disease Control, teenagers aged 13-18 should be getting eight to ten hours of sleep every night. 

Students who participate in extracurriculars often do not get home until late at night which already takes away from their sleep time. Combined with an early start time and homework, getting enough sleep becomes difficult. 

While some students argue that the later start time is beneficial, others argue that the start time should be earlier. 

“I think school start time should be earlier because people that do sport will have more time after school to do homework or go out,” junior Sami Tezera said. 

“The time should be earlier to have extra time after school to do extracurriculars and to have time for a job,” junior Alex Morales said. 

An earlier start would mean an earlier dismissal. This extra time can be used to have fun with friends or to have more time to do your homework. An earlier start would also mean that extracurriculars can be started earlier allowing students to have more time at home to rest or maybe have more time to work after school. 

Students share mixed opinions on the start time, some arguing that they like it being moved to a later time and some students arguing that it should be earlier. But there are still others that like the current start time and don’t believe a change is needed. 

“I don’t think it makes a huge difference,” junior Loghan Kaley said. 

“I like it because it’s not that early and not that late,” junior Rami Maaita said. 

I like the later start time because I think that less people would be late to school and I believe making the start time earlier is unnecessary.