All students depend on sleep to function throughout the school day. Students are expected to go through seven classes, take at least one test a week and balance extracurriculars and homework. Students deserve to get a good night’s sleep and not be tired when going throughout the school day. It therefore seems obvious that we should have a later school start time.

Although a later start time would lead to later end time, there would be a higher chance that students are more awake in the afternoon, and therefore can do more extracurricular activities in the afternoon after school is let out. If you are more awake, performance will be better, and you can even do better in sports, instead of feeling tired when going to activities. Students can still do homework when getting home, and will have a longer opportunity to sleep in if it’s needed to stay up later. The later start time provides more time to sleep even if it is necessary to stay up later to do homework.

In spite of the fact that students often aren’t focused on just studying, and that there are also other factors that could help them achieve the recommended amount of 8-10 hours of sleep, it just isn’t possible with high school students to expect that each and every one of them will continue to stick to the same schedule. Students with all different types of work ethic will gain something out of pushing the start time back further, whether by getting more sleep or more time to do your work.

Even though a later school start time does make it harder for the county and bus drivers to logistically sort things out, there is a solution that can be found. School bus drivers do pick up and drop off all students, starting with high schoolers, then middle schoolers and ending with elementary schoolers. However, although the quantity of buses remains the same no matter what time the school day starts, the school day can be pushed back for all levels of school.

Another possible solution to this problem is restructuring the school day to fit less into one day, and only pushing back pick up times by 30 minutes to an hour. This will give bus drivers plenty of time to drop off students and be able to get back to middle and elementary schools.

There is no easy solution to handling this problem, however it is necessary for all students to get the proper amount of sleep. Whether students choose to use this time to stay up late and do more homework so they can sleep in, or they go to sleep earlier and wake up more refreshed, a later start time will help students do better in school, and in extra curricular activities. Students should not have to go to school half asleep.