The school system’s lousy efforts to maximize students’ success has shown time and time again to actually worsen a students’ schooling experience. Going forward into the next school year, Hart High School will be implementing a later starting time of 8:30 to align with new guidelines set by Gavin Newsom’s Senate Bill 328, which he signed October 19, 2019. Schools will be expected to make the required changes by the 2022-2023 school year. 

The decision to start school at a later time is unnecessary. The decision was ultimately made with the idea that the majority of teens are sleep deprived, leading politicians to believe that a 30-minute difference will determine a student’s success. Personally, I’ll be using those 30 minutes to fix up my eyeliner. 

With the start time being pushed back, it will also push back the school end time. This will further interfere with students’ after-school sports and activities. 

Students are finally finding some stability and routine after Covid lockdown and online schooling. Unfortunately, with this Senate bill, politicians have thrown it all out the window, doing a full circle back to quarantine uncertainties. What students need above all else at this time is a set schedule, and this is the wrong time to be changing it around. This change is just going to add to the stress that everyone has worked so hard to tame.

What would actually help would be gradual changes, after all the drastic and rapid changes students have gone through since Covid. People have discussed starting activities in the early morning to prohibit them from running too late. The point of this time change is to help students get their rest, but some students may drop their sport if they have to practice in the early morning. These timing issues should have been addressed and worked out a long time ago to avoid these sudden changes for students.