As the third week of the 2019-2020 school year comes to a close, the new schedule is starting to settle in as routine for many of the students at Fossil Ridge High School. Opinions about the later start and release seem to vary. On one hand, a relaxed morning with extra free time seems tantalizing, but on the other, getting out at four p.m. is difficult for most of the building. To critique the time change, one has to understand the reason for it. Melissa Vasa, a counselor, explains, “In alignment with national research and national organizations that look at student health, students tend to perform and overall feel better when they can sleep in.” The time change is supposed to be for the students. So how has the student body of Fossil reacted to the change so far?

One student states, “I like the new start time because I feel like I get more sleep and have more time to get ready. But, I don’t like how late we get out. Especially if you have any extracurriculars it’s hard getting home so late.” This sheds light to one of the problems with the time change—it makes athletics difficult. For example, a practice could easily go until seven p.m. without time for weights, so the solution for students is to have weights in the morning. This gets rid of the whole point of the time change, as now hundreds of teens are still getting up at six or seven to go lift. This sentiment seems to be shared with a lot of athletes at Fossil, as one student claims, “I don’t like [the time change] because of sports and homework. They go late plus homework, which means I don’t have time to hang out with friends.”

For students with athletics, the time change has some obvious problems. But there are still some positive sides do the change. One student explains, “I like the new start times because I get to sleep in later and don’t feel as stressed in the morning. I then also have time to do other things in the morning.” This seems to be a common theme among the Fossil community. Deana Kochis explains, “I like [the late start] because I get to have breakfast with my daughter.” The later mornings seem to be accepted throughout Fossil.

The question is, is it worth getting home at dinner time to be able to sleep in?