Starting high schools at 9 a.m. is a bad idea | Opinion

Last week, the Philadelphia School District announced that classes at all but four of its public high schools would begin at 9 a.m. This change to a later start time will go into effect for the 2022-23 academic year. On the School District’s website, chief of schools Evelyn Nuñez noted that “This decision was informed by community feedback collected in the Spring of 2021, and research from the American Academy of Pediatrics which shows that later start times for high school students enable them to arrive at a school more alert and ready to learn.”

As an 11th and 12th grade English and communications teacher at Martin Luther King High School, I am concerned that this later start time will have a negative impact on the students at our city’s public high schools.

To be sure, I understand the premise of the decision. Sleep is important. High school students need enough sleep in order to function well and be ready to learn. But it’s important to note that with the new start time also comes a new dismissal time: 4:04 p.m.

When the School District made this decision, the impact on the end of the school day does not appear to have been a major consideration. At that time in the late afternoon, students are engaged in extracurricular activities, part-time jobs, arriving home to care for younger siblings, or taking an afternoon nap. The later dismissal time could mean that these activities will shift later into the evening or be eliminated altogether.

It is also likely that with this shift to a later start time, the last classes of the day will be poorly attended. In my experience, students already leave school before the day ends for sports activities, part-time jobs, or to meet their siblings when they get out of school. Even absent the roles of these student-athletes, older siblings, or part-time wage-earners, I don’t envision very many students will be keen on the idea of being in class until 4:04 p.m. Many will simply leave campus on their own.

Rather than addressing concerns around attendance and academics directly, I worry that we are simply shifting the problem to a different time of day.

“I don’t envision very many students will be keen on the idea of being in class until 4:04 p.m. Many will simply leave campus on their own.”

At Martin Luther King High School, we have experimented with later start times, particularly during weeks of standardized testing. Students who do not have to test for those two weeks begin their school day two hours later. Despite the first class starting at 10 a.m., many students arrived late — some as close to 11 a.m.

The School District and, yes, a growing body of research, suggests that schools can play a major role in helping teens get more sleep by beginning classes later in the day. In my experience as a teacher and in many frank discussions I have with students, many do not enjoy a 7:30 a.m. start time. That is understandable. In these same conversations, many also admit that they stay awake at night on social media and gaming, as opposed to spending hours on homework.

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I believe that we should rethink how we structure the school day. Perhaps a 9 a.m. start is the beginning, but we need to reconsider options for the end of the school day. Perhaps the period when students would normally be in the last class of the day can intentionally be used for study hall, office hours, volunteering, sports, and other activities normally reserved for after-school hours.

Students and teachers in Philadelphia have been through many transitions in the last two years. Fall 2022 will mark the start of our fourth pandemic-impacted school year. We have all had to adapt to changes in the ways we live, work, travel, and learn.

It began with an ad hoc remote schooling model and continued with fully remote learning. Then we adjusted to hybrid models — a mix of in-person and online teaching and learning — before returning to an in-person experience with new health and safety protocols. This shift to a later start time is just one in a string of many transitions.

Any change in Philadelphia’s schools impacts not just students and teachers, but also our whole community. Starting classes at 9 a.m. may help students to get more sleep, but we need to rethink the end of the school day to make sure that students are not missing out on the other vital parts of their education and lives.

Stephen Flemming is an English and communications teacher at Martin Luther King High School. @kellygrade6