Would District 51 Students Benefit From Later Start Times?

More Colorado schools are moving to later start times.

It's very early in the school year but preliminary results show that Cherry Creek School District's move to the later start time is helping students. The Denver area school's hour later start is producing better rested and more engaged students. That's the latest findings from a top sleep researcher.

According to Nationwide Children's Hospital, most teens aren't getting enough sleep. The average teen gets about 7 hours or so. However, they need 9 hours or more. As a result, their mood, behavior, cognitive ability, academic perfromance, and even their ability to drive can be negatively affected.

The National Sleep Foundation says that "sleep is food for the brain."  "Skipping sleep can be harmful, even deadly...Sleepiness can make it hard to get along with your family and friends and hurt your scores on school exams, on the court or on the field. A brain that is hungry for sleep will get it, even when you don’t expect it. For example, drowsiness and falling asleep at the wheel causes more than 100,000 car crashes every year."

Is it time to move back the District 51 start time? Is the 7:25 AM start too early for students?