Edina Public Schools Press Release - Later Start
PRESS RELEASE
FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT
Kenneth Dragseth 952-848-3900
Laura Tueting Nelson 952-848-4016
EDINA PUBLIC SCHOOLS ADOPT RECOMMENDATION OF MEDICAL ASSOCIATION, CHANGE STARTING TIME
MN Physicians Urge Later Starting Time to Follow Natural Sleep/Wake Cycles of Adolescents
EDINA, MN, AUGUST 1996: The Edina Public Schools have become the first school system in the state to adopt the recommendation of the Minnesota Medical Association (MMA) to change school starting times for adolescents.
In response to the MMA's request, Edina Public Schools will change the starting time of its senior high school from 7:25 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. Closing time will move from 2:05 p.m. to 3:10 p.m. The change will be effective on September 3, the first day of classes in the 1996-97 school year.
In April of 1994, the MMA contacted every school district in the state and urged them to change their starting times for senior high schools (copies of the MMA materials are enclosed). Edina is the only school system so far to follow the MMA's recommendation.
"We think there are many factors which contribute to our students' academic performance, and the most important factor is their health and well being," says Kenneth Dragseth, Superintendent of the Edina Public School System.
"Academic performance is about more than class size and dollars spent per pupil," says Superintendent Dragseth. "At Edina, we do everything we can to create an optimal learning environment for our students. If adjusting school starting times improves their performance, we're willing to make the changes necessary to do that."
According to the MMA: "Scientific studies show that many adolescents need more than 91/2 hours of sleep - more sleep than children or adults - just when demands on their time are increasing. Many young people who are juggling school, jobs, sports, homework, and socializing, cut back on their sleep sometimes with disastrous results. Sleep deprivation causes accidents and interferes with learning."
Researchers at the Johns Hopkins University Sleep Disorders Center, in their study School-Week Sleep Lag Sleep Problems with Earlier Starting of Senior High Schools, write that: "The usual early start of the school day for senior high may not be well suited for adolescents if their customary circadian sleep phase is delayed as suggested by clinical studies ... these data demonstrate a sleep-wake disorder with possible public health significance for safety and learning which has been largely ignored in social planning."
Barbara Yawn, M.D., a Rochester physician who specializes in school health research, and who was Speaker of the MMA's House of Delegates when they made the school starting time recommendation, says the Edina Public Schools are out in front on an important issue.
"The Minnesota Medical Association applauds the Edina Public Schools for recognizing and respecting the sleep needs of adolescents," says Dr. Yawn. "The new later school start will allow students to meet their biological sleep imperatives. The changes must have required creative problem solving, and I took forward to hearing about the positive results of these innovative changes at the Edina Public Schools."