BLOG: The Frugal Writer: Sleeping In Saves Lives

While I hate to be melodramatic, there are two undisputable facts right here in Anne Arundel County, MD:

1) Anne Arundel County has the earliest public school start time of any school district in the state of Maryland, 7:17 a.m.

2) In Anne Arundel County, suicide is the second leading cause of death among youth ages 10 to 17, second after unintentional injuries, according to a September 2010 report issued by the Anne Arundel County Department of Health.

Coincidence?  No.  Not when you consider that sleep deprived people often have feelings of depression and hopelessness if they continue to not get enough sleep.

An out of state petition signer (#3149) even stated as such, commenting: "Being tired every day is, I think, one of the reasons behind my suicidal impulses."

And yet, even a small change to start schools later will improve mood and lift depression almost instantly.  This is in addition to the preventable accidents that occur with student pedestrians standing in the dark and sleepy teens driving to school.

For now, if you or someone you know is feeling hopeless, has mood swings and is withdrawing from their normal daily activities, visit http://www.suicidepreventionlifeline.org/ or call 1-800-273-TALK anytime day or night to speak to someone who cares.  Here in Severna Park, we also have Building Life, a local community of people that can help pave the way out of darkness.

Start School Later plans to go to Washington, DC on the week of March 5, in honor of Sleep Awareness Week, to present our national petition.  But, if we don't have at least 5,000 signatures, our plea to give kids what they need will fall on deaf ears.

We also plan to bring the local Anne Arundel County petition, which is in dire need of signatures to accurately represent this problem in our county. 

Every person aged 13 years or older, with a valid email address, is eligible to sign both the local and national petitions. 

With only two weeks left, there is no time to lose.  The most effective way to get more signatures is to forward this blog post to five family, friends and associates. 

Another simple, but effective way to increase signatures is to invite five Facebook friends to sign our petitions.  Simply share the national (http://bit.ly/tWa4dS) and Anne Arundel petition links (http://chn.ge/xO0DYf) and tag a few of your friends on your wall's posting. 

They will be able to see the link(s), learn about our petitions and click the appropriate links to add their signature.  (To "tag" a friend in Facebook, simply type @ followed by the first few letters of their name.  Facebook will then recognize and suggest your friends to include on the post).

If you are still not convinced that school start times are a problem, take a look at the YouTube video on the right.  Filmed right here in Severna Park, the film is a disturbing look at what really goes on in classrooms early in the morning.

We hope you will sign both our petitions and spread the word.  Your support could be a life saver, and it could very well be one of our own.

Maribel Ibrahim, The Frugal Writer, created www.StartSchoolLater.net and is a Co-Founder of Start School Later, a grassroots coalition dedicated to ensuring that the health, safety and equity of children are protected when determining school schedules.  To get involved with Start School Later, sign the national petition and the Anne Arundel County petition to ensure that children do not start school before 8 a.m.