ROCHESTER— As more research comes out indicating teenagers need
around nine hours of sleep to function normally, and are
naturally inclined to fall asleep later at night, school
districts across the country are considering adapting their
schedules. According to the National Sleep Foundation,
adolescents throughout the United States face chronic sleep
deprivation. Their website reads, given the constant conflict
“between teens' internal biological clocks and the schedules and
demands of society” later start times in local schools makes
sense for the average student. In Rochester, the school district
has formed an ad hoc committee to meet and discuss how starting
school later in the day would affect their students, and staff.
With a deadline set for March 2013 to make an official
recommendation to the Rochester School Board, chairman of the
committee Dan Harkinson said his team is making progress.
Harkinson is a School Board member as well. “It's been a lot of
years since I was a student, graduating from Spauld