We are asking to move the Watchung Hills Regional High School start time from 7:30 AM to 9:00 AM, while maintaining the same length of the school day. The High School is supportive of a later start time; the barrier is the Grades K-8 and transportation coordinators. Let’s get this petition to 1,000+ signatures and show them that there is a groundswell of support for this change. We will not accept this idea being rejected simply because it is inconvenient. We know there are logistical & financial challenges—we want meaningful solutions to be put forward so that the towns can consider them and vote on the options.

Why 7:30 AM is too early for teenagers? 

• Teenagers are not simply older versions of elementary-school children
• During adolescence, biological changes shift the body's circadian rhythm later. Teenagers naturally tend to become sleepy later at night and need to sleep until later in the morning.
• The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has identified school start times before 8:30 AM as an important, modifiable contributor to insufficient sleep among adolescents. It recommends that high schools aim for start times later than 8:30 AM, giving teenagers the opportunity to obtain sufficient sleep that better aligns with their biology, health, safety, and educational needs.
• The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reviewed 38 research reports on school start times and found that delaying school start times increased students' weeknight sleep and was associated with fewer instances of falling asleep in class, and led to better grades, better attendance, less tardiness, and fewer motor-vehicle crashes.
• Chronic insufficient sleep during adolescence can have lasting consequences for health, including increasing the risk of developing obesity, cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, depression, and other mental-health disorders later in life (AAP Technical Report: Insufficient Sleep in Adolescents and Young Adults: An Update on Causes and Consequences). 

THIS WOULD NOT MEAN TEENAGERS GET TO SLEEP UNTIL 9:00 AM! 
With an approximately 8:15 AM bus pickup, many students would still need to wake up well before 8:00 AM. The proposed schedule change simply gives students an additional 90 minutes of morning sleep—a meaningful improvement, while still requiring an early morning routine.

A later start isn't about students being lazy. It is about recognizing how adolescent biology works!

New Jersey legislators introduced legislation calling for high schools to begin no earlier than 8:30 AM. The legislation did not become law. But that does not mean the underlying issue disappeared. 

Watchung Hills does not have to wait for Trenton. Our community can make this decision for our own students.

This isn't just an isolated idea. Many New Jersey communities are already demonstrating that later high-school start times are possible.

• Camden NJ High Schools: 8:25 --> 9:00 AM in 2021-2022
• Chatham High School NJ: 7:45 AM --> 8:20 AM in 2022-2023
• Ridgewood High School NJ: 7:45 AM --> 8:30 AM in 2023-2024
• Bernardsville Ridge High School: 7:45 --> 8:20 AM in 2025-2026
• In addition to delaying the start time, other flexible approaches have been adopted, for example, by the Hunterdon Central Regional HS, Highland Park HS, Cranford HS, East Brunswick HS all allow 9:00 AM arrivals for those without a first-block class.  

WHAT ABOUT THE BUSES?
This is one of the most understandable objections.
The transportation system is built around the current schedule to avoid conflicts with transportation times for elementary and middle school students. That is a real logistical challenge — but a logistical challenge is not a reason to sacrifice the health of our teenagers. If the transportation system needs to change, let's change the transportation system. 

We can work together—school administrators, transportation providers, parents, teachers, and community leaders, to redesign the routes and schedules. Other districts have demonstrated that it is possible to deal with transportation changes when implementing later start times.

The schedule exists to serve the students. Students should not sacrifice their health to serve the schedule. 

WHAT ABOUT SPORTS AND OTHER EXTRA CURRICULARS?  
Another common concern is athletics and other extra-curricular activities. A later dismissal would certainly require some scheduling adjustments. But again, this is a scheduling problem —not a reason to reject the idea. This issue matters for athletes, too. Sleep isn't just important for academics. It matters for athletic performance, recovery, reaction time, mood, and injury risk!

There are multiple possible solutions:

• Teams that need morning conditioning or practice can meet before school.
• Practices can begin after the school day.
• Games can be scheduled later.
• Evening games can make use of field lighting.
• Athletic schedules can be coordinated with neighboring districts.
• Certain teams and activities can use staggered practice times.

There is local evidence that athletics do not necessarily have to suffer. When Chatham introduced later start times, Superintendent Michael LaSusa reported that students were sleeping more, feeling more alert, more likely to eat breakfast, being in better moods, and had no adverse impact on athletics or extracurricular activities. 

WHAT WOULD ACTUALLY CHANGE?        

Our teenagers are being asked to learn mathematics, science, history, languages, and other demanding subjects at a time when their biology makes waking up especially difficult. Changing the school start time means students are more alert, more focused, healthier, and better prepared to learn —not to mention protected from the lasting health consequences of chronic sleep insufficiency, including the increased risk for obesity, cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, depression, and other mental-health disorders.

We should not tell our students that their well-being matters — then reject a scientifically-supported change because changing the bus schedule, or a sports schedule, or a family routine is inconvenient.

Let's do the work, let's develop a plan to give our students what they need to thrive.

More sleep. Better mornings. Better students!

Sign this petition and ask the Watchung Hills Regional School District, the Grades K-8 coordinator, and the transportation coordinator to make a change. Share the petition in your neighborhoods and communities.