Peterborough students testify in support of later start times

Peterborough Rep. Jonah Wheeler testifies in support of his bill that would establish a legislative committee to study changing school start times after a group of local parents came to him asking for help.

Peterborough Rep. Jonah Wheeler testifies in support of his bill that would establish a legislative committee to study changing school start times after a group of local parents came to him asking for help. Charlotte Matherly/Monadnock Ledger-Transcript

Chiara Cabrera (right) tells legislators how early school start times made her feel so sick and stressed that she switched to a private school. Sierra Pape (left) and Ell Zimmer also spoke to the committee.

Chiara Cabrera (right) tells legislators how early school start times made her feel so sick and stressed that she switched to a private school. Sierra Pape (left) and Ell Zimmer also spoke to the committee. Charlotte Matherly/Monadnock Ledger-Transcript

Three middle-school students from Peterborough and some of their parents talk with a member of the House committee after testifying on behalf of later school start times.

Three middle-school students from Peterborough and some of their parents talk with a member of the House committee after testifying on behalf of later school start times. Charlotte Matherly—Monadnock Ledger-Transcript

By CHARLOTTE MATHERLY

Monadnock Ledger-Transcript

Published: 01-20-2025 12:01 PM

Chiara Cabrera switched schools this year.

The Peterborough sixth-grader said her public school started so early that it negatively impacted her life. Mornings were hectic for Chiara and her friends, and bus stops felt unsafe in the dark with cars, animals and, at times, ice on the ground. It also affected her on a deeper level, so much so that she enrolled in a private school this year that starts at a later time.

“Waking up so early took a mental toll on me,” Chiara told a legislative committee on Wednesday. “I woke up feeling exhausted, stressed, irritable and sad. It affected my entire day.”

Chiara, along with two other middle-schoolers and their parents, testified in support of a bill sponsored by Peterborough Rep. Jonah Wheeler. House Bill 184 would establish a legislative committee to study changing school start times.

Wheeler said he filed the legislation because local parents came to him asking for help. Several roadblocks could hinder the path to a later school start time, such as student and teacher schedules and busing companies that service multiple districts.

“People have gone to their school boards across the state and have been told by their school or their school board members that this is such a complex issue that it’s one the state should study and look at before we can move forward on it,” Wheeler said. “I’m here today to move that forward.”

Some school districts, like Keene, have already changed to later start times. Keene made the switch in 2020 for middle-schoolers and high-schoolers to begin classes about an hour later.

Two other Peterborough middle school students, Sierra Pape and Ell Zimmer, also made their case to the House Education Policy and Administration Committee. Sierra said during the school year, she usually gets five to six hours of sleep each night. The recommended amount for her age is eight to 10 hours, and as a result, she said she has more headaches and stomachaches.

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“If I don’t get enough sleep, I don’t feel good, and then I’m missing more school days,” Sierra said. “It’s also harder to focus without much sleep.”

Ell, who goes to public school, said the early wakeup time makes people more prone to sleeping in, too.

“It makes people … forget stuff they would normally know, like setting alarms, making parents late to jobs because they have to drive their kids,” Ell said.

Committee members appeared sympathetic to the cause but wondered how it would work logistically, especially with coordinating bus routes. Some districts have charted private bus companies to accommodate later start times.

Chiara’s mom, Naomi Tucker, said change can be difficult, but once people adjust it can become a relief. She knows a child who would shower and sleep in their school clothes the night before to save time in the morning – but when they woke up, they went to get socks but accidentally put on underwear over their clothes.

“This is how tired these kids are,” Tucker said.

A psychotherapist, Tucker also said there are biological factors that make it necessary to start school later.

“Right when middle-schoolers’ and high-schoolers’ bodies are changing due to hormones, their circadian rhythms shift so that it’s even harder for them to go to sleep earlier,” Tucker said. “Right then, we’re asking them to wake up earlier, go against their biology.”

Students aren’t the only ones affected by early start times. Teachers, the girls said, often must wake up even earlier than students to get to work and set up their classrooms.

Rep. Paul Terry, a minister from Alton, said the students’ testimony reminded him of a Bible verse: “Don’t let the world squeeze you into its mold.”

“You guys are being squeezed into adults’ mold, and it’s not working out very well for you,” Terry said.

Charlotte Matherly is the statehouse reporter for the Monadnock Ledger-Transcript and Concord Monitor in partnership with Report for America. Follow her on X at @charmatherly, subscribe to her Capital Beat newsletter and send her an email at cmatherly@cmonitor.com.