Florida lawmakers look at pushing back middle and high school start times – Action News Jax

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Florida lawmakers are trying into whether or not middle and high school is beginning too early within the state.

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It is without doubt one of the uncommon times Florida could copy California coverage.

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That state pushed middle and high school start times back to eight a.m. and 8:30 a.m. respectively in 2019, and it’s potential we might see the same push right here within the upcoming session.

In Northeast Florida, start times for later grades differ.

Duval begins high faculties at 7:15 a.m. and Clay begins at 7:20 a.m..

Nassau begins high school at 9 a.m. and St. Johns is the most recent, with the start of school set at 9:30 a.m..

All however one county begins middle school at 9 a.m. or later, with St. Johns being the one exception, beginning at 7:30 a.m.

“Delaying school start times for teens is seen as effective countermeasure to chronic sleep loss,” mentioned State Representative Kaylee Tuck (R-Sebring).

Read: St. Johns County School District updates checklist of eliminated books

Tuck chairs the House Choice & Innovation Subcommittee.

The committee heard from a panel of sleep consultants on Thursday, who laid out the case for later school start times for middle and high school.

Some of the analysis offered confirmed a correlation between an absence of sleep and an elevated danger of suicide, weight problems, greater incidents of site visitors accidents and crime, in addition to decrease tutorial efficiency.

“It’s a cynical thing to say, well make the kids go to bed earlier. Biologically they just can’t do that,” Dr. Rafael Pelayo with the National Sleep Foundation mentioned.

The presenters advocated for an 8:30 a.m. or later start time for middle and high school college students.

It’ll be as much as lawmakers whether or not to craft laws to mandate later start times all through the state.

High school dad and mom and grandparents we spoke with right here in Duval had differing concepts on pushing school start times back.

“Most of the time my two grandson’s get there late because it’s too early, right?” Duval grandparent Juan Martinez mentioned.

“I think high schoolers like getting out at 2 o’clock in the afternoon,” one other Duval grandparent Julie Freece mentioned.

“Yeah, it’s like too early to wake up, but another side it’s like after seven or 7:30 it becomes too much traffic,” Duval father or mother Willy Naamo mentioned.

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Another discovering offered to the committee confirmed 92 % of fogeys reported discovering their kids “easier to live with” after school start times have been pushed back… Perhaps an incentive for folks presently on the fence.