What if every single day could be a late start? What many students could only dream of may very well soon become school policy. School boards and teachers across the nation have been discussing about delaying the start times of school, but little has been done until recently. Adlai Stevenson High School has decided to move official start times to 8:30 AM and end at 3:25 PM. As the D128 District Board tends to follow the footsteps of Stevenson, it is fairly likely Vernon Hills High School will do the same.

D125 has also announced a few other changes to school scheduling Aside from having regular days begin at 8:30 AM, they will have late starts beginning at 10:30 AM twice a month. Furthermore, the school year will begin August 15th, three days earlier. This is being done to allow more time to finish finals before winter break. Veterans Day will no longer be a day off school for D125, and both teacher institute days will be moved to second semester rather than first. Because of the earlier start, however, school will also end on May 25th.              

As explained on the Stevenson website, the reason for changing school start times if to give students a little bit of extra time to take care of themselves before going to class. As the year progresses and the colder months begin, sleep becomes an increasingly valuable commodity. Countless studies have been done, proving that sleep is vital to both better retention in education as well as several other health benefits. Sleep depravity can lead to increased irritability, shorter attention spans, and a weakened immune system.

Will Lucas (12) explains, “Sometimes it’s just hard to focus in class when all you can think about is how hungry you are. Especially in the earlier periods of the day, and for those students who may have a later lunch period.”

By starting school later, students will have ample time to eat an adequate breakfast. At the end of the day, it seems like no students would argue against starting school later.