Wake up and debate start times

Coeur d’Alene School District is smart in taking nine months or so to dissect, research, argue for, argue against and then possibly make a decision on later start times for adolescent students.

It’s going to take at least that long for all of us experts to shove our wisdom down the young loafers’ throats.

And while we’re at it, maybe we can take more shots at teachers, too.

Last Sunday’s front-page story in The Press brought out vehement voices on both sides of this controversial fence. Proponents favor starting classes an hour later, 8:30 a.m., because adolescents’ brains are going 5 mph in a 60-mph zone at the current 7:30 a.m. start time. Critics tend to lob grenades on that idea because the lazy little so-and-sos should be every bit as miserable as we were when we were their age.

Before you pull a pin and point that thing at your friendly editorial board, remember this: We are (accurately) accused of being old white men who don’t understand young people when we rail against the rampant addiction of and complications from today’s smartphone invasion, in schools and outside.

In the case of sleep-deprived teens, though? If you’re going to argue that the kids just need to suck it up and play by old-time rules, you’re going to be arguing against a lot more than a local child psychologist and a teachers union activist.

Trips down memory lane do not constitute actual scientific research. The Centers for Disease Control has looked into this phenomenon and found powerful evidence that later start times for adolescent students is a scientifically supported step in the right direction not just for their performance in class, but for their overall physical and mental health.

The CDC isn’t alone. The American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Medical Association are both advocating for later school start times — not because today’s middle- and high school students must be coddled, but because they, like every single one of us, need adequate sleep to function anywhere close to normal.

Do societal trends contribute to the malaise? Most likely, and here’s where we could get sidetracked on the perilous ramifications of too much screen time. But let’s stick to the subject of sleep.

According to a CDC study in 2017, three-quarters of U.S. high school students get fewer than 8 hours sleep and 43 percent get 6 or fewer hours on school nights. Alarmingly, the numbers have gotten progressively worse through studies in 2011, 2013 and 2015 to 2017.

Would starting school an hour later improve academic performance while reducing absenteeism and perhaps even suicidal thoughts or attempts? That’s great fodder for healthy discussion in the months ahead.

Let’s have it.