7:30 am is when the first bell rings for Lakeland High students. 7:35 am is when the tardy bell rings and the first period officially starts.
For some, this is very early and raises the question, “Should school start later?”
“I think students would benefit from school starting later because they would have more time to get to school and their sleep schedules would be healthier,” Lakeland senior Levi Pallas said.
Most students get up for school around 5-6 am and can barely make it through the first period. Constantly falling asleep and losing focus on their work is an unhealthy way to set students up for success. Others barely even make it to their first period on time or at all.
Students constantly sleep in, miss the bus, or get stuck in traffic. Trying to rush to school on little hours of sleep and surviving on caffeine. Most tardies happen in first period rather than in other classes throughout the day.
“I think starting school later would help me focus more in class because then I would not be so tired,” Lakeland sophomore Payton Barker said.
While most students are constantly falling asleep in the first period or not even showing up, the last few periods of the day can also get to students.
After lunch, the fifth period starts at 12:15 pm and gets out at 1:10 pm, which makes the sixth period start at 1:15 pm.
For most students, the last two periods of the day are a grueling finish. Many spend their time fighting their way through the last two hours of the school day and constantly watching the clock, losing their focus.
Most students eligible for free periods take the last two periods of the day off, letting them get home at 11:40 am.
“I feel more tired in my later classes than my earlier ones,” Barker said.
For others, the later classes are when they feel more awake and lively.
“My grades are average in all of my classes, but I do stay awake better in all my later ones,” Pallas said.
While starting school later would be beneficial for the student and maybe fix their wrecked sleep schedules, another problem is the high chance of school going later in the day.
The current schedule for Lakeland High School is for students to get out at 2:10 pm. With the change of starting school later in the day, the end time would also have to change.
This is where members of the district struggle to agree.
While having the time for students to wake up later and get to school more efficiently, it also pushes back the end time for school which could affect things like sports and jobs.
“I would not be able to work as much if school ended up going later,” Pallas said.
With most jobs around here starting at 4 pm for high school students, depending on how far back the hours are pushed it could mess up their work schedules and hours.
Another effect of pushing back end time would be extracurricular activities and sports.
Most activities and practices start after school and end around 4 or 5 pm as of right now.
With school going on later the possibility of activities going later into the night is high.
One of the major effects of these could be games.
“Starting school later would make activities and sports games go a lot later,” Barker said.
With three teams playing on the same day for almost all sports at Lakeland, it can be hard to find the right times to start games.
Right now, most sports have C-team play at 4:30 pm, JV at 5:30 pm, and Varsity at 7 pm, with a later school day these times would be more unrealistic to meet.
The solution of having teams play on different days has been brought up in conversation but could create the same problem of trying to find time for all sports.
Interferences with times like this make the switch to starting school later harder and more complex.
Trying to find that in-between, when to start and when to end, then what to do with everything after makes a big mess and headache for district members.
“If we went later and still got out at the same time I feel it would improve my schedule, but if later than no,” Pallas said.
While starting school later could benefit students with their daily morning routines and doing their homework or assignments, managing a schedule that fits everyone is not an easy task.
Being mindful of all options is something to take into consideration when trying to make a change.
Maybe one day students will see school starting later, but for now, there are too many obstacles to get past.
