Thanks for this great reminder! There's a new Anne Arundel County petition at http://ow.ly/eL30F, asking for a minimum school start time of 8 am and minimum bus pickup of 7 am (currently buses come as early at 5:50 am!). Over 500 signatures, and this is only day 3! Folks who care about this issue should read the petition, sign if they agree, and spread the word.

Early school starts also mean kids come home to an unsupervised house for 2 hours or longer in the afternoon. Our community is close enough for kids to walk, but it is so dark that it is not safe to Walk, so parents drive them which only adds to traffic congestion.

Good points, Newth. As signer #995 just wrote on the later school start petition (http://ow.ly/eL30F): "... for 3/4 of the school year teenagers are either waiting for a bus or walking to school in total darkness." And, of course, schools that start absurdly early also get out absurdly early (2:05 p.m. in our county). With many parents working, those many free, unsupervised hours after school are a concern, especially among sleep-deprived teens - who, according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) are already at risk for many unhealthy behaviors including drug and alcohol use, physical inactivity, and suicidal thoughts.

Casey, how many kindergartners wait for the bus unsupervised in your neighborhood (not that this is what the petition calls for -- no bus pickup before 7 a.m. precludes that possibility)?

People automatically assume we are proposing a simple solution, like flipping schools. We don't have to have to have staggered starts at all. There are many ways to skin this cat.

HS'ers could have online courses and start their day at 9:10, while we leave ES and MS the same. Or, folks could opt in on bus service and we could consolidate enough to add extra bus runs where they are needed.

The fact is, we would never dream of sending our kids to school and not giving them food. Why is it OK to send out our kids without sleep?

For more success stories, visit: http://www.startschoollater.net/success-stories.html

The Anne Arundel petition ( http://signon.org/sign/set-8-am-as-the-earliest) very clearly asks for safe, healthy school and bus times for children of all ages, whether age 6 or age 17. This background is clearly spelled out on the petition website: "Merely switching elementary and high school start times will not solve this problem because it will force our youngest children to go to school at unsafe hours as well. That’s why we are proposing 8 a.m. as a minimum opening class time and 7 a.m. as an earliest bus pick up time. These lower limits will ensure the physical and mental health and safety of children of all ages in our public schools, while still allowing the possibility of starting high schools even later, as most research suggests they should."

Casey, when Anne Arundel County citizen groups grappled with our 7:17 am high high school start times back in the mid-2000's, we quickly found that setting 8 am as the minimum opening time for K-12 was the preferred solution. That's how I got the idea of using 8 a.m. as a rock bottom opening hour in the national petition I started last fall (http://signon.org/sign/promote-legislation-to.fb1?source=s.fb&r_by=1521139), and it's at the heart of the newer AACPS petition (http://signon.org/sign/set-8-am-as-the-earliest) as well as most start school later efforts around the country. The Start School Later movement is by no means solely about high schools. It's more fundamentally about finding ways to return to healthier, more traditional hours (and 7 am is by no means traditional), and regarding the need to do so as a non-negotiable matter of public health, much as heating schools in winter is non-negotiable. From what I know, the Fairfax School Board thinks this way. too, and is working to ensure that no child of any age is required to go to school at unsafe or unhealthy hours.

The Fairfax County School Board and SLEEP have always been quite clear on our mutual desire to solve this problem while maintaining daylight pick-up and drop-off times for elementary school children. In fact, it is specifically included in the statement of work approved by the school board this summer.

Terra, Phyllis and Kari, thank you all for clarifying all the issues.

Casey does bring up the question of waking up elementary school-age children. It needs to be noted that elementary children generally follow an early to bed, early waking sleep schedule, so they are usually early risers. Teens on the other hand, experience a shift in this sleep schedule, due to hormones and puberty. This shift has largely been ignored when determining school schedules. While my 3rd grader happily rises at 6:00am, a teenager would have a hard time going to sleep before 11:00pm and waking before 8:00am. This is healthy, normal, and natural, not a function of laziness or wasting time. That said, I never have to "wake up" my kids, they are raring to go by 7:00am.

Also, notice that my child WAKES at 6:00am. I wouldn't dream of having him or any other child of any age at a bus stop before the 7:00am hour. (My other two "sleep in" until 7:00am).

Again, the focus is for ALL children to have a healthy school start time, including elementary students. NO student should be required in school before 8:00am. Unfortunately, our high schools have typically started the earliest, which is why they receive the "attention" regarding school starts and the brunt of this brutal scheduling.