Dear Mr. President,

Schools help us learn the basics of English, social studies, science, math, and electives us students choose. Schools like these should be valued because we learn something new everyday. Every school is different: private or public, good or bad, lunches and such. Some people enjoy going to school, while others don’t. People complain about what schools are doing, but my #1 issue about school is the start time.

My school starts at 7:30 like almost everyone else. Not a big deal, right? But I always have to wake up at exactly 6 o'clock, eat breakfast, brush my teeth, go to the bus, and there I am, in school. The problem is I don’t have much time to get ready and I eat my breakfast slowly. Most kids also have a problem with school start times because some sleep at 10 or 11 pm. The effects of sleeping that late are tiredness, not focused/sleeping in class, etc. Most kids believe our start time my school has isn’t a big of a deal. But others want to see it change. My main problem for this issue is the school bus. I only have 30 minutes to do my daily morning routine.

A school called Moorpark High changed their school start time from 7:30am - 2:30pm to 8am - 3pm. People say that change made a huge, positive impact on students. Kids gained more sleep, have more time to get ready, etc. 30 minutes may sound not too long, but for us, it is. In order to function properly, kids like me need at least 9 hours of sleep. And there were no complaints for the school buses. Soon other high schools are changing their school times, but what about the middle and elementary kids? Although we have lots of energy to play around we only have little energy to focus in class. Maybe we had early start times because as we grow up we get lethargic more often than younger kids, but that’s not true.        

When I always walk in school campus, I see most kids full of energy, but some with baggy eyes and the desire to sleep in their classrooms. So please Mr. President, the choice is yours. Will you change all the schools’ start times and let the students have more sleep and time in their hands, or make everyone wake up early and rush through everything to get to school on time?