Wayne Hills High School starts at 7:20 am every day, but many students fail to arrive at school at this time, let alone be seated in their class. Additionally, the staff has sent out many emails regarding the number of tardies in the mornings. So, the question is, what is causing these latenesses, and should school begin later?
Once that second bell rings at 7:20 am, each student who walks in after has to wait in this long line that begins to wrap around the commons so they can sign in at the office. This process causes students to be even later than they already are and miss crucial information that they could be learning in their classes. Furthermore, the drop-off line outside is also a key factor in arriving late to school. Junior student Emily Kolkka states, “School is a three-minute drive from my house, but because of the drop-off line filled with cars that don’t move, it takes about ten minutes until I can finally get out of the car”. Because of this, many students have to leave their houses much earlier than they actually should.
In order to arrive at school on time and avoid the crowd of cars pulling in to drop their children off and the line to pull into the senior and junior lots, people need to get to school earlier. Although, it is quite hard to do so when teachers cram students with hours of homework to do each night. The combination of having to stay up late and waking up before dawn is extremely hard, especially doing so five times a week. Many students are drained when it comes to having to wake up early, go to school, stay for sports/extracurriculars, and then go home and complete their homework-it’s tiring. When looking at the opinion of a Junior at Wayne Hills, Jasmine Clemente thinks, “With all the homework I constantly have, I find it hard to go to bed before 12 am. I’m always so tired and find it hard to bring myself to get up in the morning. I never want to get up, and I often find myself getting to school right before the bell rings”.
But, there is a solution that almost everyone will support: starting school later. This will allow students to have more time to complete their homework because they can go to bed later since they do not have to wake up as early. Additionally, teachers who do not live in Wayne and have to deal with traffic on their way to school will also benefit. Even if the school start time is only pushed back an hour, this will still be extremely beneficial. The average high school start time in New Jersey is 7:51 am, and the average high school start time in America is 8:00 am, putting Wayne Hills towards the earlier start time of schools. Although many other schools around here, like Wayne Valley High School, start around the same time at about 7:20 am, some private schools, such as PCTI, start later at around 8:10 am. Sleep is extremely important, especially for teenagers, and it is necessary for high school students to receive their full eight hours every night; but this is not the case for many students at Wayne Hills High School. Junior student Gillian Baccaro states, “I don’t think I am ever able to get eight hours, let alone six. Between dance and my homework, I just don’t have the time to”.
Setting school to start at a later time will result in having less traffic because there will be fewer cars on the road since most people have left for work already. There will also be fewer tardies because it will be easier for people to wake up and get to school on time, also resulting in more well-rested students who will actually focus in class instead of slipping in and out of consciousness as they start to doze off. So, what do you think, should school begin later?
