by Cade Smith
    As all the students and staff know, there were some schedule changes. The schedule changes that were made on Wednesdays were to make extra time for teachers, but the change was only 45 minutes. I think it would make more sense if there were an extra 15 minutes to round it up to an hour.
    If the change were made, the teachers could get extra meeting time, or the meeting could be moved 15 minutes later, so they don’t have to get here early in the morning. As a result, the students could get a bit of extra time before school, and the staff and students could get slightly more sleep if the meeting were 15 minutes longer.
    There are some benefits of middle and high schools starting later. According to educationdegree.com, a teacher education website, around 80% of US schools start before 8 a.m., which means many students end up sleep deprived. We could give students the extra bit of time for sleep on Wednesdays, so students or staff are less sleep deprived.
    Even though the change is only on one day, and only 15 minutes, it still helps. Reuters Health states that teens in Hong Kong whose high school delayed the start of the day by 15 minutes were late to school less often and showed better mental health and focus according to a new study. So, by adding 15 minutes, not only would it benefit students, but also teachers.
    With the minor disadvantage of less class time, though, the 15 minutes wouldn’t make much of a negative difference. If the late start were an hour ahead instead of 45 minutes, all the schedules could be easily changed to an hour ahead. Since the 15 minute addition is minor, it wouldn’t be difficult to change it at all.
    Confirming this, many sources, including the New York Times, Time Magazine, and several more, believe that starting school later is beneficial to students. California has a new bill that says the latest a class can start is 8:30 a.m., and in Michigan some schools delay start times for students to get extra sleep.
    I went through the school website and it says there are two rounds of late start; the first round is supposed to end on Halloween, and the second round of late start begins on the 6th of February, then ends March 27th.
    It would be great if we had an extra 15 minutes on late starts. It would be a dream if we got an extra 15 minutes every day. The extra time does benefit students. The only difficult part would be getting used to it and having the motivation to get it set up. But in other high schools, the teachers and parents supported the schedule change, so why don’t we give it a try and add only 15 minutes to late start days? I’m not the only one who’s tired.