SLEEP Goal:To increase awareness of teen sleep needs and to change Fairfax County Public School (FCPS) middle and high school start times to later in the morning. Research shows that later start times correspond with teen sleep needs and improve health, quality of life, and school performance. The effort to change Fairfax County Public School start times by parents concerned about the health impact of too-early high school start times on adolescent students has been going on for at least 10 years. SLEEP was started in January 2004 by Sandy Evans and Phyllis Payne. Momentum is building for a change. We need your continuing support to finally accomplish the goal of so many parents for so long. To learn more about the history of this issue in Fairfax, please visit the History page.

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SCHOOL BOARD ELECTION –

11/18/11—Congratulations to the winners of the local school board election and thank you to all candidates

Please read the next school board members’ responses to the SLEEP questionnaire (below). Of the 12 who will serve starting in 2012, 10 said they would vote for “a new FCPS policy to require that high schools start after 8:00 a.m. in the morning”, and 8 said they would be willing to “put forth a motion to vote on such a policy.”

Effective school board members will build consensus by resolving barriers rather than dismissing them as impossible to solve. SLEEP recognizes the importance of defining solutions to address legitimate concerns that have been used to deny healthy school start times to our students. As always, we are looking for volunteers to help with our grassroots effort.

Districts that start high schools later, like Arlington and Loudoun, have found ways to provide competitive sports and extra-curricular activities for high school students, satisfy teacher concerns about altered work schedules and commuting patterns, and minimize disruptions to elementary and middle school families.

At-large School Board Members (countywide representatives)

Ilryong Moon

Ryan McElveen

Ted Velkoff

DISTRICT School Board Members (who represents people in your magisterial district ).

Megan McLaughlin (Braddock District)

Janie Strauss (Dranesville District)

Patricia Hynes (Hunter Mill District)

Tammy Kaufax (Lee District)

Sandy Evans (Mason District)

Dan Storck (Mt. Vernon District)

Patty Reed (Providence District)

Elizabeth Schultz (Springfield District)

Kathy Smith (Sully District)

SLEEP FACTS:

• 71 of 95 counties in Virginia start high schools at or later than 8 am, including neighboring Loudoun County whose high schools open at 9 am.

• Nine hours of sleep is recommended for high school-aged children and, in FCPS, two-thirds are sleeping 7 or fewer hours on school nights.

• FCPS buses begin picking high school students up as early as 5:45 am and students are dropped off at county high schools between 6:45 and 7:00 am.  With this schedule, students wanting enough sleep must be in bed and asleep by 8:30 or 9:00 pm. 

• Children in high schools with later morning start times sleep more hours on school nights. The notion that they will stay up later is a myth.

• School districts with later morning start times have lower teen car crash rates and have seen decreases in student depression.  More than 1 of 4 teen students in Fairfax report symptoms of depression.

Click on the link to hear a bit of wisdom from Ben Stein quoting Frank Wright, University of Chicago economist: "Never waste any time you can spend sleeping". Stein also notes the "insanely early hours" at which kids have to go to school.

Please join the Official SLEEP in Fairfax County Facebook group.

NSF's Great American Sleep Challenge

7 Days of Sleep and Alertness

SLEEP on the CBS Morning Show-click here

At the February 2, 2007 budget hearing. Katarina Berger, Lee Pyramid Coordinator, provided a light moment with the poem, Revise the Rule which some School Board members promisedto post in their offices as inspiration.

Contact SLEEP at sleepinfairfax@gmail.com.