FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Conference to Help Schools Hit Snooze Button for Student Health

Washington, DC

Dec. 7, 2016

On April 27 and 28 school administrators and other stakeholders in student health and success will have the opportunity to gather in Washington, DC and learn how to implement later school day start times. This unique conference is a collaboration of the Yale School of Medicine’s Department of Pediatrics, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the RAND Corporation, and the non-profit Start School Later.

Myriad health groups have recommended that middle and high schools start after 8:30 a.m., including the American Academy of Pediatrics, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Association of School Nurses, the Society of Pediatric Nurses, and the American Medical Association. The recommendations are based on decades’ worth of research showing that early school start times both decrease and disrupt adolescent sleep due to later shifts in sleep cycle that occur during puberty. Deficient sleep is correlated with a host of health and safety issues including car crashes, depression, diabetes, sports injuries, and more.

Many schools have adopted later start times in accordance with the recommendations, however they often do so after years of study and planning. This conference is aimed at educating on the science and helping school administrators and community advocates streamline the implementation process.

Attendees will hear from sleep scientists as well as districts who have acted on the research, including Start School Later Implementation Director Phyllis Payne who was instrumental in the later start times adopted by Fairfax Public Schools in Virginia.

“This conference will provide an opportunity to improve the health and well-being of young people across the country,” states Payne. “School leaders will join policy experts to collaborate on how to ensure a smooth return to more traditional school hours that allow middle and high school students the opportunity to sleep and wake at times that work with their body clocks and promote improved learning.”

Conference details and registration information can be found on the conference website: www.SchoolStartTimeConference.org .

Start School Later is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization working to ensure school start times compatible with health, safety, education, and equity. Visit their website at: http://www.startschoollater.net.

National Contact: Stacy Simera, Communications Director

Email: stacy@startschoollater.net   Tel: 330-389-9133

###