Currently, North Canyon starts at 7:30 am, which is proven to be way too early for most adolescent teens. Research indicates that schools starting at 8:30 am or later improve high school students’ academic performance, attendance, and mental health.
This later start time allows students to get the necessary amount of sleep, which is crucial for their physical and mental well-being. Teenagers have different sleep patterns than adults, and starting school later can help them get the recommended amount of sleep, leading to increased alertness and focus in the classroom. Additionally, later start times can potentially reduce instances of depression and anxiety among students and decrease drowsy driving accidents involving teenage drivers.
Many students and staff members believe that North Canyon starts too early for anyone to feel focused and alert. Teachers have mentioned that they don’t feel focused enough to teach in the morning but must. Additionally, many students have been saying that North Canyon starts too early, resulting in a high number of daily tardies, with over 20 people being tardy each day.
The assistant principal, Mrs. Hansen, mentioned that when she worked in Scottsdale, “My school had a later start every other week for teachers to collaborate. However, this led to students arriving at school much later than they needed to, causing an increase in the number of daily tardies.” She also added, “When the school started to start later, the staff noticed that more students started to fail their classes due to them not being there.”
