On July 9, the Board of Education voted to change the start times for Guilford schools. This is the culmination of a five-year process driven by the recognition that our high school start time of 7:25 a.m. is inappropriately early; it will now start at 7:40 a.m. Based on a 2015 national survey, this is earlier than 90 percent of U.S. schools. The medical literature is very clear on two points: 1) school start times are the primary factor determining how much sleep teenagers get 2) early start times result in chronic sleep deprivation in teens, which increases the risks of car accidents, depression, anxiety, sport injuries, substance abuse, and obesity.

I was a member of the committee that designed this proposal. Although this is a modest gain, we also found efficiencies in the busing that will allow runs to start 10 minutes later. This results in 25 minutes more sleep for students who take the bus—a gain of more than two hours of sleep per week. Middle school will start 10 minutes later, and elementary schools will start five minutes later. All of this is at no cost to the district. Although the change for the elementary schools is not ideal, I view this as money in the bank toward the health of my 3rd grader when he is older.

I applaud this action by the Board of Education, but don’t believe that it goes far enough. I believe the optimal time for high school start still should be later. A start time of 7:55 a.m. is achievable with minimal disruption to extracurriculars. At a recent town forum, some parents expressed a desire to spend money for a later high school and earlier elementary school start. I hope to continue working toward this goal.

Craig Canapari

Guilford

Craig Canapari M.D. is director of the Yale University Pediatric Sleep Center.