Ready to sleep in for an extra 45 minutes?
On Thursday, September 12, the administration has scheduled a “Late Start Schedule,” giving students an extra hour or so of sleep. If it works out well, it may be something more permanent in the future.
Freshman Josh Sket often finds himself tired at the end of the day. Maybe the late start will help that.
August 28, 2019
On Thursday, September 12, Saint Stephen’s Episcopal School will be starting not at 8 a.m. but at 8:45 a.m. This one-time experiment with what’s being coined a “Late Start Schedule,” just in the upper school, is the brainchild of senior Augustus ‘Gus’ Bayard and his group from last year’s A.P. Language final project. If all goes well, the upper school may be seeing more of these late-starts in the future.
Last year, Bayard and his A.P. Lang group argued that by pushing back the school’s starting time, students would benefit from the extra sleep. Ms. Conn and the administration were already in favor of trying out a late start, and because of Gus’ project, the tardy opening is now a reality.
According to Bayard, “A.P. Lang class was first period, and our class always complained in the morning about how exhausted and stressed [we] were. We all felt the vibes.”
The A.P. Lang students were advised to develop a project on something that impacted them personally, so they decided on a late start because of how exhausted they all were.
National studies have shown that teenagers require on average nine hours of sleep every night. The National Sleep Foundation says “that getting enough sleep is a biological necessity, as important to good health as eating well or exercising.”
According to the weekly SSES Announcements, “Upper School students will not be required to be on campus until 8:45 a.m. on the Late Start day. Students using school transportation, or who choose, may take advantage of quiet study time from 8:00 a.m. until 8:45 a.m.”
This is a temporary trial run, but if it goes well, the schedule could be implemented permanently into the school’s routine, whether that be for select days or for longer stretches.
So how did the administration make it work? Easy: All classes are five minutes shorter, including lunch. This is so that pick-up time, sports practices, and the bus schedules can continue to happen according to plan.
Even with school starting at 8:45 a.m., the school day will still end at 2:55 p.m., as per usual. See the proposed Late Start Schedule below.
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