Katelyn Oostra
Klusmire
Period 3
May 1, 2014 Students don’t do well in the morning. High School students naturally wake up at late times; they don’t fall asleep till 12 or 1 AM some nights. Lynden High School should have a later starting time, like 9:15 AM or 9:30 even. Having a later start time at the middle school and high school would greatly improve the academic processes of Lynden students. Teenagers don’t function to their full capability in the morning, it’s a well-known fact. Most students will agree that their first period class is the hardest one they have, if it isn’t an elective, that is. Multitudes of studies have been done relating to the time of day and the students ability to focus and retain information, all pointing to the fact that students have a harder time learning before 9:30 AM. Granted, there are issues that arise with an later start time, like the problem of transportation, there aren’t enough buses to transport all the students in the Lynden School District to school at the same time. This issue isn’t as big and troublesome and people portray it to be. High School students can drive themselves and carpool to and from school, and if that doesn’t solve the issue then we can switch the times, elementary school can start at 7:50 and middle and high school can start at 9:50, most kids get up at 7 anyway. Teenagers need more sleep to focus and perform well in school. Having a late start time would open the opportunity to have sports before school. This would free up time after school and give students more time to do other extracurricular activities or get a job, and it leaves more time to get homework done. On top of the extra time after school, between the hours of 5 and 9 AM are proven to be the best times to exercise, the perfect time to do sports practices. Although changing the schedules this year would be difficult, there is a simple solution to that problem is simply don’t change the schedule this year. Wait till next year, all LSD would