CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- A far north suburban school district is joining some others in its region in altering class start times to fit the needs of its students. When classes resume Aug. 21 in Woodland School District 50, its 5,600 students will be starting at different times than in previous years.According to Supt. Joy Swoboda, middle schoolers, 6th, 7th and 8th graders, will be starting at 8:30 a.m., an hour later than they used to.
"Research from the American Association of Pediatrics as well as the AMA has shown that sleep deprivation...it's a real public health issue for adolescents," Swoboda said.
On the other hand, she said, kindergartners through 3rd graders will be starting their classes earlier than before. Supt. Swoboda said younger children are fresher earlier in the day, so they will be starting before 8 a.m. Last year, they started close to 9 a.m.Swoboda said its part of a strategy to "create optimal learning environments".She said that, in previous years, some middle schoolers had to be at bus stops as early as 6:20 a.m., and that the new schedule should give them the opportunity to sleep later."We can't guarantee that our middle school students will sleep more. We can't guarantee that they won't be on their electronics at night. That's a personal decision (for) the child and the family, but what we can guarantee is that we're not putting structures in place, like a transportation routing system that picks up children at 6:20 a.m.," Supt. Swoboda said. Supt. Swoboda said the district will look at attendance rates and grades at the end of the school year to determine if the new start times have had a positive impact.Woodland District 50 is an elementary school district in northern Lake County. It serves all of unincorporated Gages Lake and Wildwood and parts of Gurnee, Grayslake, Park City, Third Lake, Old Mill Creek, Wadsworth, Lindenhurst and Waukegan.
