By Kayla Johnson
Staff Writer

Imagine waking up on a warm summer Monday and realizing that school doesn’t start until 8:30. Wouldn’t life be amazing if school started later?

Studies show that students that start school later get better grades in school and are healthier than others who start school earlier.

If high school started later most kids would actually enjoy going to school. Most kids who go to school are either tired or hungry in the morning. “In the morning most kids in my classes are either sleep deprived, angry or hungry, so if school started later there might be less attitudes in school,” sophomore Lexi Smith said.

School starting later will benefit all students and even teachers. Students will have enough time to get ready for school and get a chance to eat breakfast. Students who don’t eat breakfast in the morning do not tend to get as good grades, according to http://www.pba.org/.

According to, http://www.sleepfoundation.org , the average teen body’s natural time to go to sleep is 11:00 p.m. or later, even if teens feel tired. Teens not being able to go to sleep until 11 or later can cause sleep deprivation because they are not getting eight and a half – nine and a quarter hours of sleep. “Most of the kids in my first and second period are tired because they didn’t get enough sleep,” English teacher Sean Daly said.

Many people believe that a later school time will not affect grades and that it will not affect attendance. “I don’t believe that school starting later will change,” Kathy Lichtner said, but, according to the research of The Center for Applied Research and Educational Improvement (CAREI) at the University of Minnesota the results of a later school time showed improved attendance, continuous enrollment, less trips to the school nurse, and less tardiness. Also schools that start later have seen much improvement in grades and behavior.

Many students believe that if school start later grades will improve as well as academic scores. On May 21, 2007, Harrington High School took a survey and found out that 90 percent of students believed that their academic performance would improve if school started later.

Starting school later will benefit all students a positive way. It will benefit teens academically and emotionally. Academically because, it will improve grades, because it students will not be as tired. Students will benefit from a later time emotionally. According to http://www.psychologytoday.com/ a later school time will help stop kids from having a low attention span in class which can cause depression.