New Beginnings High School Supports Florida Changing Start Times
05 Agosto 2024 - 4:04AM
Business Wire
New Beginnings High School supports a new Florida law requiring
later start times for middle school and high school students
beginning in the 2026-2027 academic year.
Florida school districts are preparing for a major change in
school start times that will take effect at the start of the
2026-2027 academic year.
The change, which was put in place due to a new state law, says
that no high school classes can begin before 8:30 a.m. and no
middle school classes can begin before 8 a.m. This change could
take teachers, administrators, parents, and students some time to
adjust to, but it’s one that New Beginnings High School in
Lakeland, Winter Haven, and Fort Meade fully supports.
School districts still have two years before they must abide by
the new start times, but some have already begun. In early 2024,
the Tampa Bay Times reported that 15 out of the state’s 67 school
districts had already made the change.
When they passed the law, Florida lawmakers said they believed
that the later school start times would help students get more
sleep, which can result in better physical and mental health.
The American Psychological Association has been advocating for
later school start times for years, citing research that shows
earlier bell times lead to a big discrepancy between the amount of
sleep teens get and the amount they need.
The association says that adolescents should optimally be
getting a little more than nine hours of sleep per night. Yet, a
2014 study from the National Sleep Foundation showed that only 10%
of students between the ages of 15 and 17 were getting that much
sleep.
The APA has said that some of the benefits of later start times
include increased attendance, decreased disciplinary actions,
decreased car accidents involving teen drivers, increases in GPAs
and test scores, and an increase in the quality of interactions
students have with their families.
Other states, such as Wyoming, Rhode Island, Kentucky,
Connecticut, Colorado, etc., have already made this switch, and
Florida is about to do the same.
New Beginnings High School in Lakeland, Winter Haven, and Fort
Meade has always known that later school start times provide major
benefits to students.
Since its inception in 2011, NBHS Staff members have worked what
many would call a typical workday for many private-sector and even
public-sector employees — from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Students then have
the option to attend school from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. or from 12 p.m.
to 5 p.m.
This flexibility allows students to get the sleep they need at
night and to attend school in the time period that works best for
them. Those who do better in the morning can still attend the
earlier session, while others who might not do well in the morning
— or who work late at night or early in the morning — can attend
the later session.
New Beginnings High School always has the physical, mental, and
emotional well-being of all students in mind and believes that the
later start times that the state of Florida now mandates will help
support all students better.
For more information or to apply, please visit newbhs.net.
About New Beginnings High School
Launched in 2011, New Beginnings High School is a
non-traditional charter school based in central Florida that offers
personalized academic options for students aged 15-24 who want to
earn their high school diploma. New Beginnings High School, with
campuses in Lakeland, Winter Haven, and Fort Meade, serves over
1,000 students.
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