Q&A of the Day – The Best School Start Time Schedule for Palm Beach County
Each day I feature a listener question sent by one of these methods.
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Today’s Entry: Hi Brian, I’ve always appreciated the research you put into your work and that’s why I reaching out to you today. The Palm Beach County School District has opened a survey asking parents what their preferred start times for future school years should be. Given that the new law prompting the changes was born out of sleep research, I was wondering if there is any research that could be applied to which of the proposed schedules would be in the best interests of our children? Thank you for what you do!
Bottom Line: As you’ve mentioned, the Palm Beach County School District has opened up an anonymous online survey for members of the community to provide their input, which will be taken under consideration when a final schedule is selected. As noted by the District: We urge all community stakeholders, including students, parents/guardians, SDPBC employees, and other community members to fill out the survey below. We appreciate your participation and look forward to reviewing your thoughts on this important issue.
Under the new law, which was passed in last year’s state legislative session due to recommendations from the American Academy of Pediatrics, by July 1st of 2026, middle schools may not start earlier than 8 a.m. while high schools may not start prior to 8:30 a.m. This is a big change for the school district as most of the district’s high schools currently start at 7:30. In order to adjust for the later start times for high schools, the school district needs to adjust the start times for schools at all grade levels in order to stagger bus schedules to provide drivers with enough time to complete their routes.
The three proposed schedules under consideration by the school district are these:
Option 1:
- Elementary school day: 7:30 a.m. to 1:35 p.m.
- High school day: 8:45 a.m. to 3:45 p.m.
- Middle school day: 10:15 a.m. to 4:50 p.m.
Option 2:
- Middle school day: 8 a.m. to 2:35 p.m.
- High school day: 9:15 a.m. to 4:35 p.m.
- Elementary school day: 9:45 a.m. to 3:50 p.m.
Option 3:
- High school day: 8:30 a.m. to 3:50 p.m.
- Elementary school day: 9 a.m. to 3:05 p.m.
- Middle school day: 10:20 a.m. to 4:55 p.m.
In evaluating available sleep research for the purpose of determining which of these schedules might be in the best interests of our children, there’s an obvious focus on adolescents. This is reflected in the AAP’s research, and it’s reflected in the law that issues mandates for how early middle and high schools may start classes but not for elementary schools. And related studies, like one recently conducted in North Carolina, suggests this is correct. For example, in a study of the impact of school start times on only elementary and middle school students, the study concluded:
- Finding 1: Earlier start times have small, mixed effects on elementary school students
- Finding 2: Earlier start times negatively affect middle school students
Specifically, in addressing elementary school students, school start times at 7:45 were measured against start times at 9. What they found was that absences were slightly higher for students with the earlier start time but that academically, there wasn’t an impact in reading performance and math scores were actually higher for students with the earlier start time. This aids in confirming that elementary school students are the best suited to have the earliest start to a school day. At the same time there’s another consideration that comes into play.
The most compressive related study to date is entitled School Start Times, Sleep, and Youth Outcomes: A Meta-analysis. In this 2022 study published in the American Academy of Pediatrics, data from 28 independent studies was collected to come up with the study’s findings which included this:
- Later SSTs were more strongly associated with lower levels of sleepiness for high school (versus middle school) youth, and youth in private (versus public) schools reported better sleep and later wake times with later SSTs.
Ideally high schools should have the latest start times, and an ideal schedule would have elementary schools starting first, middle schools second and high schools third... But here’s the thing. That’s not presented as one of the three options under consideration by the school district.
In reviewing the research there’s one of the options that makes the least amount of sense and that’s the third option which would have high schools starting classes first. Conversely, but similarly, option two has elementary schools starting last leaving option one as arguably the best of the presented options (while still less than ideal). Hopefully that’s helpful.