Brookfield High School starts 45 minutes later so students can get more sleep
Brookfield High School students will start 45 minutes later this year. The bell rings at 8 am.
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More and more school districts are starting to adopt later start times. Brookfield is giving kids a chance to get more sleep.
"About 4 1/2 ago, we really started to talk about healthy school start times," says Brookfield Public School Superintendent Dr. John Barile.
Barile says Brookfield High School students will start 45 minutes later this year. The bell rings at 8 am.
"Adolescent sleep needs and their natural biorhythms moved from very late at night to a little bit later in the morning, so it made sense for us to start school later for our high school students," says Barile.
Brookfield Public schools consulted the Pediatric Sleep Center at Yale and the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, which says that most teens need an average of eight to 10 hours of sleep a night.
Some teachers said they noticed some of the kids in their earlier classes falling asleep in class. This year’s students don't see it that way.
"I get more sleep, and I can study later. More at night," says Brookfield freshman Alan Olague.
Barile says the district also did a study of sunrise and sunset times.
"If you start so early, many students - especially high school students - in the shorter days of winter are waiting for the bus at dark time, and we certainly don't want that. We want them to be safe," says Barile.
Barile says other area school districts are starting to see the light. Brookfield schools start Sept. 5.
Whisconier Middle School also starts at 8 a.m., and the new Candlewood Elementary School starts at 8:50 a.m.
