Walking into school at 7:00 AM, long before the sun has even broken the horizon, you may question the purpose of such an early start to class. It’s been this way for as long as you can remember, though, so you groggily trudge off to first period to begin another day.

Although it seems as if it was a huge school debate that was put to rest in the COVID-19 era, later school start times are still desired by many NASH students.

In the 2017-2018 school year, the North Allegheny administration sent out surveys seeking parent and student opinions on start times. While the majority of the votes came back in favor of later start times, the Board voted to continue with the current schedule.

With the daily life of a North Allegheny student remaining the same, it may seem that most students have forgotten that start time changes were once under consideration. 

“I think we’re good with the times we start with now,” NASH junior Kelsey Finney said, arguing that if starting times were to be pushed back, “kids would go to bed at an even later time than before, the sleeping problem would never actually go away.” 

Junior Gabbi Stegemen sees the issue from a different perspective.

“I would have to agree with the more popular opinion [according to a  2020 emailed survey] to push back the start times to a later time,” Stegeman said. “I have a busy sports schedule, along with a lot of homework. I am not always able to get the sleep I need to wake up for another school day.”

Katie Lovejoy, a junior, agreed with Stegemen.

“[Start times are] way too early, they definitely need to be changed. Later start times would definitely improve my mental and physical health in so many ways,” she said.

Lexi Baran, a junior, takes no issue with the current schedule.

“I don’t struggle to wake up early in the morning since it is something I do voluntarily,” she said. “I completely understand why most kids would want a later start time, though.”

With so many factors to consider in a decision to change start times, the wide-scale effect of this decision is likely why the district opted not to delay school start times. 

An alteration to the schedules of NA’s nearly 8500 students would surely be felt by all families and teachers. The question remains whether it would be a change for the better.