Some of them may, but many more will wake up comfortably due to more sunshine flooding through the window.

Exactly. Sunshine is proven to supress melatonin production (no matter whether night owl or early bird). Melatonin is usually produced at night and encourages you to feel sleepy. So later waking up times are certainly helpful, even if the person goes to bed a bit later.

https://www.biologicalpsychiatryjournal.com/article/0006-322... https://you.com/search?q=light+melatonin+production

Their parents will still likely wake them up when they go off to work.

I am VERY close to this situation, I'm married to a California teacher. Most of the kids hate this idea.

1. They know they and everyone else will just stay up later. 2. School will go on too late in the day, sports participation is dropping appreciably. 3. Those who work after school or school/sports are quitting sports to work, and planning ways to leave when they did previously to go to work.

This is incredibly short-sighted, and will not last a year.

Education is more important than playing football. Working is more important than playing football (for those who need the money).

Anecdotally, when I was in high school, with a 7:30 AM start, around 25% of the class was asleep through 1st period. And this was in honors/AP courses with the kids who wanted to learn, get good grades, and generally be successful.

That doesn't match my experience at all. I started at 7:15 (special elective) and school started at 8. The only kids who would fall asleep were the kids that stayed up late playing videogames, abusing caffeine (and/or other drugs), and didn’t care about grades.

So my anecdotes don't match your's.

Football (and its school attendance and passing grade requirements) might be the thing keeping a kid in school and getting an education.

Maybe. But, we’re not talking about eliminating sports. Or after-school employment. Only shortening the window to do both. And the Venn diagram of kids that “need” to play sports and need to work pales in comparison to the total student body, who all (in aggregate) benefit from more morning sleep.

I'm confused by this. My high school in a different state started at 8:30, ended at 3:30, and sports was everything to that school. Like one of my math teachers was primarily a teacher so they could be the basketball coach. Starting at 8:30 is really not much of a problem.

It feels like something that might better be decided at the local school district level.

The problem with that approach is the debate tends to be led by football parents who want to make sure there’s ample time for the kids to beat each other senseless on the field. Literally, that’s the argument we got in Fairfax County when similar proposals were floated.

This sounds like a vast over simplification and plain scapegoating. All the school start time surveys I've seen typically have an even split up to moderately favoring normal start times. Half the school is not on the football team.

Good thing they'll graduate and have kind bosses who are okay with them rolling in at 10.