• Start times are determined by busing schedules.  OSTA (Ottawa Student Transportation Authority) runs the buses for OCDSB and OCSB

• Parents and administrators have been trying to get a later start time for at least 10 years.  This is the first year we have been offered a different time.

• The only times to be considered are 7:50 a.m. or 9:30 p.m.

• A 9:30 a.m. start will have a 4 p.m. finish

• As you may already know, I base all of my decisions on student learning and/or student safety.

What research/information do we have to help in this discussion?

• DA Moodie school staff report that students lack attention and are sleepy until first recess break at 9:35.  Many re-teach concepts from periods 1 and 2 for clarity.  Although the first 100 minutes is quiet, they seem to be rather unproductive for learning.

• We have concerns about incidents that occur in the community involving teenagers from 2:30-5 p.m. in the DA area – this is the time children are unsupervised as parents are still at work.

• North American research points positively to a later start time for adolescent learners.

• Dr. Mary A. Carskadon’s work researching teenagers and sleep patterns seems to be noted a great deal when discussing school start times. 

i. [Her studies suggests that] getting a proper amount of sleep is a biological necessity, as important to good health as eating well or exercising. Teens are among those least likely to get enough sleep; while they need on average 9 1/4 hours of sleep per night for optimal performance, health and brain development, teens average fewer than 7 hours per school night by the end of high school, and most report feeling tired during the day (Wolfson & Carskadon, 1998).

ii. Students who are sleep-deprived exhibit irritability, increased anger, lower tolerance for frustration, decreased ability to control emotions. (Dahl, 1999)

iii. Students who rise at 6 am on weekdays and then sleep in until 11 a.m. on weekends experience a jet-lag phenomenon…. Ottawa time zone during the week and Vancouver on the weekends.  Monday and Tuesday is spent adjusting to the time zone.

iv. [Her] “medical research has shown that adolescents have a natural sleep pattern that leads to a late-to-bed, late-to-rise cycle.  Melatonin, responsible for sleepiness in the brain, is secreted from approximately 11 p.m. until approximately 8 a.m., nine hours later.  This secretion is based on human circadian rhythms and is rather fixed.  In other words, typical youth are not able to fall asleep much before 11 p.m. and their brains will remain in sleep mode until about 8 a.m., regardless of what time they go to bed.” (Carskadon et al, 1998)

• Dr. Kyla Wahlstom’s landmark study involved 2 Minneapolis school districts shifting to a later start time over a six year period (1996-2001).  Improvements noted:

• Improved attendance

• Increase in continuous enrollment

• Less tardiness

• Students making fewer trips to the school nurse

• Gaining an average of about one hour of sleep per night, since their bed times stayed the same even after the start time change.

• Eating breakfast more frequently

• Being able to complete more of their homework during school hours, because they were more alert and efficient during the day.

• Some improvement in grades

References

Carskadon, M.A., A.R. Wolfson, C. Acebo, O. Tzischinsky, and R. Safer 1998Circadian timing and sleepiness at a transition to early school days . Sleep 21(8): 871-881.

Dahl, R.E. 1999The consequences of insufficient sleep for adolescents: Links between sleep and emotional regulation. Kappan 80(5):354-359.

Wahlstrom, K.L., and C.M. Freeman 2001 University of Minnesota School Start Time Study:  Final Report.  Minneapolis, MN: Center for Applied Research and Educational Improvement.