09/13/2022
We need your help. Can you send 1 email?
Do you think our 7am high school start time is too early? So do all the experts who know that early start times harm sports performance, academic performance, physical health, mental health and so much more.
Yet our school board is refusing to take action on this issue because they think it is not an important issue to parents.
โก๏ธ Please send 1 email to your school board member.
โก๏ธ You can use the template below.
โก๏ธ You can email you board member directly from here: https://www.mnps.org/board-of-education
Thank you.
***
DATE
NAME
SCHOOL
ADDRESS
CITY, STATE ZIP
Dear School Board Member,
I am writing as a concerned PARENT/FAMILY MEMBER of a student currently attending SCHOOL NAME in DISTRICT NUMBER. I believe that our current school start time is too early, which inhibits our teens from getting the recommended amount of sleep that they need for optimal health and performance.
The American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) recommends that teens between the ages of 13-18 years should sleep eight to 10 hours per night on a regular basis to promote optimal health. However, data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) show that nearly 73% of high school students report sleeping 7 hours or less on school nights. Early school start times are partly to blame.
During adolescence a shift in the timing of a teenโs internal body clock causes alertness to increase at night, making it harder for teens to go to bed early. A school day that starts before 8:30 a.m. conflicts with this biological timing, forcing students to wake before they can get sufficient sleep. Insufficient sleep in teens has been linked to numerous problems including poor academic performance, increased depressive symptoms, suicidal ideation and risk-taking behaviors.
Teens who fail to get enough sleep also have a higher risk of motor vehicle accidents, which account for 35 percent of all deaths and 73 percent of deaths from unintentional injury in teens. By reducing alertness and attentiveness, delaying reaction times and hindering decision-making skills, sleep deprivation can compromise driving ability as severely as drugs and alcohol.
Earlier this year, the AASM recommended that middle school and high school start times should be 8:30 a.m. or later. You can help promote teen health and safety by delaying the start time for our school district.
Research shows that later school start times enable teens to get more sleep on school nights, which boosts their daytime alertness, reduces tardiness, improves learning, and supports their mental health and psychological well-being. For more information on the importance of sleep for teen health, visit www.projecthealthysleep.org.
I hope you will join me in supporting a school start time of 8:30 a.m. or later for high schools in Metro Nashville Public Schools so that our teens can get the healthy sleep they need to meet their full potential.
Sincerely,
NAME
The Metro Nashville Public Schools Board of Education meeting dates and time and Board Member names and contact information.
