Letter: Letting students sleep in may not be worth the consequences

As a 40-year educator and father of two who were reluctant to go to bed early, I take exception to William Frank’s Dec. 20 letter, “Solution for student sleep found at home.”

Mr. Frank believes that telling a student to go to bed/go to sleep will solve the sleep issue and schools may, therefore, continue early morning start times.

Evidently, research from the last 20 years and the 2014 recommendation of the American Academy of Pediatrics do not resonate with Mr. Frank.

So, if research on the sleeping habits of adolescents isn’t compelling (Stanford University, National Institutes of Health, University of Minnesota, American Psychological Association and others), then there are questions that should be addressed in order to accept the “early to bed” theory:

1. Do all students have a parent at home at the designated bed time? (no)

2. Are there one-parent families in the community? (yes)

3. Why do schools start at 7:45 (6:45 zero period)? (tradition)

Moving the starting time for secondary schools by 45 to 60 minutes, as Seattle and others have, is complicated and in the end may not be worth the consequences it causes. But to ignore adolescent sleep research is irresponsible.

This story was originally published January 25, 2016 at 5:11 PM with the headline "Letter: Letting students sleep in may not be worth the consequences."