Seeking A's In a Few More Zzzz's

By Maria Glod
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, January 26, 2006

Carly O'Loughlin's alarm buzzed at 5:25 a.m. last Thursday, marking the start of the 14-year-old's finely orchestrated morning routine. She slipped into jeans, a pink sweatshirt and a sparkly heart-shaped necklace and swept her hair into a ponytail.

Downstairs at her family's Fairfax Station house, Carly plopped some batter -- made on Sunday night to keep weekday preparation to a minimum -- into a waffle maker. Her mother, Luanne, reached into the refrigerator and offered a drink.

"Give me a Frappuccino," Carly said. "Mocha."

A few minutes later, carrying her Starbucks coffee and a paper plate with the half-eaten waffle, Carly hopped into her father's car, and the pair drove down the still-dark streets to a bus stop a few blocks away. At 6:20, the bus pulled up, and Carly was on her way to Robinson Secondary School.

Carly, an eighth-grader who complains she's frequently groggy during early-morning classes, said she would prefer it if school "started at 8:30 and ended at 3."

"I wake up because of all the people" in class, she said. "But I'm still tired."

Carly and her parents are among a growing number of Fairfax County residents who want the School Board to push back middle and high school start times. At most county high schools, including Robinson, the first bell rings at 7:20 a.m., and some students board buses an hour before that. Teenagers, these residents say, just aren't made to start their days so early. They say the schedule results in cranky students who aren't always ready to learn, as well as stressed-out families.

"People talk about their children's health, how they are sick all the time, tired all the time. How family life is deteriorating," said Sandy Evans, a Fairfax parent and co-founder of the group SLEEP (Start Later for Excellence in Education Proposal). "This is terrible for high school kids."

In recent years, several school districts around the country have decided to ring the opening bell a little later, after some studies showed that more shut-eye benefits children. A 2001 study of Minneapolis students showed that after the district moved its start time from 7:15 to 8:40 a.m., students got slightly better grades, were less likely to miss classes and experienced less depression.

Wilton, Conn., pushed back high school start times in 2003, and Denver schools have developed flexible schedules that allow students to start later. In 2000, the Arlington School Board voted to open high school 45 minutes later -- changing the start time from 7:30 to 8:15 a.m. In Maryland, Anne Arundel officials are considering a proposal to move back the current 7:17 a.m. high school start.

Physicians agree that children and teenagers need more sleep than adults -- 9 1/2 hours or more a night is recommended for a typical teenager. But research also has shown that adolescents have different sleep patterns from adults, making them bleary-eyed in the morning and more alert in the evening.

"I don't know how anyone is supposed to function at their best starting at 7:30, especially adolescents. Their internal clocks really are shifted by about two hours," said Jodi Mindell, associate director of the Sleep Center at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and co-author of "Take Charge of Your Child's Sleep." "If we could get high schools to start after 8 or even 8:30, it would line up a little more with their biology."

The Fairfax County School Board is studying the possibility of pushing back start times, but some members said they are concerned the price may be too high for a district with one of the largest bus fleets in the nation. A consultant hired by the board to study ways to alter or add bus routes to accommodate a new schedule recently estimated it would cost an additional $44 million annually -- an increase of about 50 percent over the current cost of busing students -- to open high schools between 8 and 9 a.m. The consultant is working to find other options.

School Board member Kaye Kory (Mason) said she is sympathetic to parents and students who have raised the issue. When her three children attended Fairfax schools, they rode in neighborhood carpools so everyone could catch a few extra winks.

"My concern is that a sleepy student just can't possibly learn to the best of their ability," Kory said. "I do believe it's a worthwhile goal, but like everything else it comes down to how the majority of people want to allocate resources. I don't think we'll ever see the day the schools have extra money."

School officials also note that a schedule change would disrupt the daily routines of many families. Day-care arrangements might have to be altered, and some students with after-school jobs might have to shift schedules. Others worry about finding the time to fit in sports, band and other after-school activities.

School Board member Stuart D. Gibson (Hunter Mill) said he thinks that later start times would benefit students, but that a change would require broad community support.

"There has to be huge public engagement," Gibson said. "If we do this, it's going to cause almost every family in Fairfax to radically alter how they live their lives."

Evans, a former Washington Post reporter, and SLEEP co-founder Phyllis Payne, a health educator, are convinced the community would welcome a change. Since launching the group two years ago, they have heard from hundreds of parents who worry that fatigue makes their children irritable and exacerbates illnesses. About 6,000 people have signed the SLEEP petition.

During the 2004-05 school year, with the help of the administration at J.E.B. Stuart High School in the Falls Church area, the group asked parents, teachers and students their opinions.

Of 679 students who answered the survey, more than 87 percent said they had fallen asleep during class, and 64 percent said they were tired most days. A majority of students said school should start at 8:30 a.m. or later.

Almost 60 percent of the 101 teachers questioned said students are not alert during first period, and a majority reported that students sometimes nod off during class.

Wesley Thompson, 15, a 10th-grader at W.T. Woodson High School who sets her alarm for 5 a.m., said she's seen classmates fall asleep. She said she's occasionally come close to nodding off, but she stays awake with the help of a thermos of instant coffee.

"I sleep the entire bus ride, and when I get to school I'm pretty tired, and I drink my coffee," Thompson said. "I'm tired, but it's not inhibiting me from getting my work done."

Thompson said she tries to get into bed by 11 p.m. But she winds down by reading or writing in her journal, and it's 11:30 before she falls asleep.

Sean McKenna, a pediatrician at Virginia Commonwealth University, said Thompson's schedule is typical for teenagers, who tend to have a surge of energy in the evenings. "They are awake and alive, and they want to do something," McKenna said.

McKenna said he has seen sleep-deprived teenagers who suffer from headaches or are not performing well in school. Some students can appear to have attention deficit hyperactivity disorder when, in reality, they are just exhausted.

"There are a lot of pediatricians who think schools should start later for a lot of reasons," McKenna said.

Dean Tistadt, assistant superintendent of facilities and transportation services, said he is open to ideas, because he has looked for ways to start school later but has not found a solution. The district already has trouble hiring and keeping bus drivers and is about 50 drivers short. The consultant estimated the schools would have to add more than 600 buses to adjust start times.

"I believe this would be in the best interest of the students," Tistadt said. "I've looked at this on a number of occasions, in a number of different ways, and I haven't found a way to do it that doesn't cost a lot of money."

Payne said the schools should continue looking for economical fixes. Maybe students could take classes in the summer or online and opt out of first period classes, she said. Or perhaps minor boundary adjustments could make bus routes shorter. Payne and Evans also said the district could consider using some public transportation, a strategy employed by some other school systems.

"We wouldn't send them to school hungry, and you shouldn't send them tired," Payne said.

Chris Shea, an eighth-grader at Robinson Secondary School who lives in Fairfax Station, and his mother, Cindy, are among those who would welcome a little more shut-eye.

These days, Chris, 13, does all he can to maximize his sleep. He showers at night, arranges clothes for the next day and makes sure his backpack is ready to go. In the morning, he grabs cereal or a bagel while his mother packs a lunch.

He's supposed to catch the bus at 6:12 a.m. Instead, Cindy Shea drives him to the final stop of his bus route -- a 6:40 a.m. pickup.

"That 15 minutes of sleep makes a difference," Cindy Shea said. "There's some break point there -- 6:12 for my son simply isn't doable every day."

For more information, visithttp://www.sleepinfairfax.org.

The School Board's preliminary report on bell times can be found athttp://www.fcps.edu/schoolbd.htm. Go to "Board Topics" and click on the link under "Update: At the November 7 Facilities and Operations Work Session . . . "